Why do so many people withdraw from clinical trials for cancer? Elizabeth Tracey reports

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Cancer clinical trials offer a lot: a chance to undertake new treatments, robust clinical support, an opportunity to help advance knowledge for others. Yet some people choose to leave such trials, and a new study examines why. William Nelson, director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, explains.

Nelson: They looked at almost 12,000 subjects spread across 58 clinical trials, in total a little bit more than 1000 about 9% withdrew consent. They withdrew from the trial within two years. You're slightly more likely to have withdrawn consent if you were of Hispanic ethnicity, if you were participating in a trial that had a randomized design with a placebo in it or if you were older than age 75, and slightly more likely to continue participation if you receive radiation.  :32

Nelson says the results point to ways to improve communication with clinical trial participants. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.