Dr. Shaukat on the Benefit of Diverse Enrollment in Clinical Trials in CRC

Aasma Shaukat, MD, MPH, Robert M. and Mary H. Glickman professor of Medicine and Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, professor, Department of Population Health, co-director, Translational Research Education and Careers, director, Outcomes Research, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, discusses the benefit of diverse enrollment in clinical trials in colorectal cancer (CRC).

The PREEMPT CRC trial (NCT04369053) is a prospective, multi-center, observational trial evaluating a blood-based test for its ability to detect CRC. Samples are collected from average-risk patients receiving a routine screening colonoscopy.

From the outset of the study, the trial design encouraged the inclusion of a diverse representation of the population in terms of geography, age groups, gender, race, and ethnicity, Shaukat says, adding that investigators focused on finding treatment sites that would allow for diverse enrollment across those groups.

Investigators deliberately selected locations that had higher rates of diversity so that results from the trial would be more representative of the real-world population, Shaukat concludes.