"Clinical Trials So White" explored the low percentage of minority participation in research trials—especially African Americans and Hispanics—and how the lack of diversity could hamper discoveries of new treatments and impede efforts to determine how they affect underrepresented populations.
Our Winter 2023 newsletter spotlights five Hollywood veterans who say entertainment needs more stories about the vibrant lives of older adults; changing the narratives about breast cancer in young women; Anderson Cooper exploring death and grief; scoring your favorite entertainment when it comes to depicting plastic pollution; and the language of the future.
The medications, therapies, and treatments that we use to deal with different illnesses and injuries have been studied using clinical trials. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), African Americans represent 12% of the U.S. population but only 5% of clinical trial participants and Hispanics/Latinos make up 16% of the population but only 1% of clinical trial participants.
When a variety of racial/ethnic groups are represented in clinical trials, valuable information about certain diseases, treatments, and medications are revealed. This information helps to improve how we treat and prevent illnesses in different communities. Cardiovascular (heart) disease is one particular illness where we see major differences among different groups of people.
Currently over 29 million adults in the United States are living with diabetes; and about 1 in 4 of these people are unaware they have the disease (CDC, 2015a). Diabetes is a group of diseases that results in too much sugar in the blood, which over time can cause serious health problems, such as heart disease, vision loss and nerve damage.
With heart disease, we see major differences among different groups of people. It’s the leading cause of death for most racial/ethnic groups in the United States, and is especially common among vulnerable populations, such as ethnic minority groups and low-income populations.
The medications and treatments that we use to deal with different illnesses and injuries have been studied using clinical trials. Unfortunately, the people who often participate rarely include those from underrepresented backgrounds—African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, and people living in rural areas. This lack of diversity in clinical trials hinders opportunities for discovering medication and treatment effects that may only occur in underrepresented populations.
The latest newsletter showcases our work—with panel discussions on racism and childbirth, addiction and mental illness; a briefing with Mindy Kaling's creative team for a new Netflix show; interviews about reproductive rights and nuclear risk; "Better With Age" at the ATX Television Festival, and so much more!
The Winter 2019 Real to Reel spotlights stories about “fourth trimester” complications and their effect on maternal health; how diversity in clinical research defines better science; older adults and opioids; and the South’s post-Roe landscape when it comes to reproductive rights.
The fall newsletter features stories about a two-wheeled trek across the U.S. to raise arthritis awareness; black patients missing out on promising new cancer drugs; how telemedicine could fill in the gaps on abortion care; the approaching Silver Tsunami; and why some C-sections are a necessary risk.