Barriers to recruitment in cancer trials: no longer medical oncologists’ attitudes

Dear, Rachel F; Barratt, Alexandra L; Tattersall, Martin H N

doi:10.5694/mja11.10895

Topics

Statistics, epidemiology and research design

To the Editor: Participation by patients in cancer clinical trials is low. Doctors’ reluctance to participate in clinical trials has been reported as a key barrier to recruitment.1

1 Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW.
2 Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW.

Correspondence: rachel.dear@sydney.edu.au

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

1. Fallowfield L, Ratcliffe D, Souhami R. Clinicians’ attitudes to clinical trials of cancer therapy. Eur J Cancer 1997; 33: 2221-2229.
2. Taylor KM, Feldstein ML, Skeel RT, et al. Fundamental dilemmas of the randomized clinical trial process: results of a survey of the 1,737 Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group investigators. J Clin Oncol 1994; 12: 1796-1805.
3. Ginn S. Global clinical trials are burdened by excessive bureaucracy, conference hears. BMJ 2011; 343: d6322.
4. Probstfield JL, Frye RL. Strategies for recruitment and retention of participants in clinical trials. JAMA 2011; 306: 1798-1799.
5. Clinical Trials Action Group. Clinically competitive: boosting the business of clinical trials in Australia. Canberra: Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, 2011. http://www.innovation.gov.au/Industry/PharmaceuticalsandHealthTechnologies/ClinicalTrialsActionGroup/Documents/Clinical_Trials_Action_Group_Report.pdf (accessed Nov 2011).

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