Increasing Meaningful Representation of Children in Clinical Trials

Clinical trials are required to determine safety and effectiveness for therapeutic interventions to be used in clinical care. Racially and ethnically diverse research participation reflective of the US population at a minimum is essential to ensure that medical discovery leads to safe and effective interventions for all US patients. Rees et al hypothesized that racial and ethnic minoritized children would be underrepresented in published clinical trials. They performed a cross-sectional study of published articles reporting the results of pediatric clinical trials published in 5 leading general pediatric journals and 5 leading general medical journals over a 10-year period. The top journals by impact factor were assessed: JAMA Pediatrics, Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, Pediatrics, Journal of Adolescent Health, Journal of Pediatrics, New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, JAMA, British Medical Journal, and PLOS Medicine.