Researchers call for the NIH to improve diversity in clinical research in the US

Clinical research in the US needs to better reflect the population's changing demographics in order to better understand the factors that lead to disease or health, according to an article written by concerned physicians and scientists representing several universities within the U.S published in PLOS Medicine.

An individual's disease risk and response to treatment are affected by genetic, social, and environmental factors. Therefore, the authors argue that study populations should mirror the global community to better capture the rich diversity of human biological variability and to conduct better science and optimize clinical therapies.

The authors cite an ongoing paucity of research involving racial and ethnic minorities. This underrepresentation, say the authors, demonstrates that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Revitalization Act in 1993, which aimed to diversify clinical research study populations by race/ethnicity, has not yet fulfilled its goals. The authors make specific recommendations in their call for improved participation of racial and ethnic minorities in clinical and biomedical research.

The inclusion of women, minorities, and children is a requirement for current NIH grant applications. However, the authors argue that diversity of race/ethnicity among study participants is rarely enforced as a criterion for assigning priority scores for NIH grant applications, and that NIH and grant reviewers should be required and empowered to enforce this criterion as required by the Revitalization Act. The authors also state that the lack of diversity precludes a growing proportion of Americans from fully benefiting from clinical and biomedical advances. Finally they call for increased financial support for NIH to cover the higher costs of reaching these populations, and for empowering the NIH and related agencies to improve diversity in clinical and biomedical research.

The authors say: "Adequate representation of diverse populations in scientific research is imperative as a matter of social justice, economics, and science."