Sex and race/ethnicity reporting in clinical trials: a necessity, not an option.

摘要

EVEN THOUGH SLIGHTLY OVER HALF of the population of the United States are women and over one third of the population are people of color,1 information about the health of women and people of color remains woefully inadequate. Nearly 20 years ago, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) created standards for the inclusion of women and minorities in clinical trials as well as mandated annual reporting of race, ethnicity, and sex in annual progress reports.2 With increased government support and growing awareness among healthcare professionals, some progress had been made in terms of enrolling greater numbers of woman and people of color in clinical trials and in trial publication reporting of sex and race/ethnicity-specific results.Nevertheless, women and people of color are still underrepresented in clinical trials,8"10 and only a minority of studies report results by sex, race/ ethnicity, or both.