Black, American Indian, Asian, Hispanic and others under-represented

Barriers to access prevent patients with diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds from getting blood or marrow transplantation (BMT). Experimental treatments, called clinical trials, are offered to patients to test new therapies or approaches with the goal of improving outcomes. However, fewer people from diverse backgrounds than white people are enrolled on clinical trials.

Blood cancers, sickle cell disease, and other problems can be cured by BMT. Older age and sex did not seem to affect access to BMT. But people with these racial and ethnic backgrounds had less access to BMT:

• American Indian or Alaska Native
• Asian
• Black or African American
• Hispanic or Latino
• Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander
• More than one race

Also, fewer diverse patients than white patients enrolled on clinical trials. When one thinks about all the people with diseases that can be cured by BMT, people from diverse backgrounds are less likely to get a BMT, less likely to be treated at a medical center offering trials in BMT and less likely to join a clinical trial, even if available.

Some people with diverse ancestry face inequities, such as:

• Financial challenges
• Less education
• Poor health insurance coverage
• Lengthy travel from patient’s home to special medical center
• No one available to care for patient after transplant
• Lack of suitable BMT donors

What’s next

Since 2022, BMT CTN has included more patients with diverse heritage in clinical trials and has developed programs to educate people about trials and to decrease barriers to participation. BMT CTN also partners with patients to design trials, in the BMT CTN Patient and Caregiver Advocacy Committee.

Learn more about

• NMDP Patient Support Center at NMDP.org 

• More study summaries at CIBMTR.org 

• Clinical trials for blood disorders at CTsearchsupport.org 

• Info for patients and caregivers at BMTCTN.net 

Source

Kaur M, Horowitz MM, Mendizabal A, et al. Representativeness of Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMT CTN) Trial Participants. . Transplantation and Cellular Therapy. 2024. Epub 2024 Nov 1. doi: 10.1016/j.jtct.2024.10.014.

Clinical trial IDs

 BMT CTN 1301, 1302, 1401, 1501 and 1506

Sponsor

Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network® (BMT CTN®) BMT CTN thanks study participants. BMT CTN, funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and by the National Cancer Institute, is a collaborative effort of 20 core transplant centers/Consortia, the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR), NMDP, and The Emmes Company. CIBMTR is a research collaboration of the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) and NMDP. You may contact CIBMTR, MCW, Clinical Cancer Center, 9200 W. Wisconsin Ave., Suite C5500, Milwaukee, WI 53226, 414-805-0700.