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Therapeutic clinical trial enrollment among young adults diagnosed with cancer.

6096 Background: Young adults (YA) with cancer have poor enrollment in therapeutic clinical trials. This study compares trial participation among young and older adults (OA) at a tertiary cancer care center, with a view to identifying and removing barriers.


METHODS
Trial enrollment data was compared between YA (age ≤39 years) and OA (age >39 years) followed at Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH), Toronto, from 2006-2008. Trials open to active accrual were: 1) therapeutic: systemic therapy, radiation, or surgery; 2) Phase I, II or III; 3) investigator initiated, industry or cooperative group. Number of trials activated and accrual data were collected through the Clinical Trial Support Unit at PMH. Number of patients with cancer were identified through the PMH Cancer Registry. Proportions of patients enrolled in clinical trials were compared between groups using a chi-square test.


RESULTS
A total of 25,958 patients (YA: 2,699; OA: 23,259) and 318 clinical trials were identified. The table reports the number of patients, trial availability and enrollment rate for the top 5 most common diagnoses for YA and OA. YA had significantly lower enrollment rates as compared to older adults (7.0% vs. 11.9%; p<0.001) including early phase trials (4.6% vs. 7.5%; p<0.001) and phase III trials (2.4 vs. 4.4%; p<0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Trial enrollment rates were significantly lower among YA patients compared to OA across the spectrum of tumor types. Further study is underway to understand differences in trial participation between YA with different primary tumours and identify barriers to enrollment among YA. [Table: see text].