The PACCT study is a health equity-focused multi-level intervention to improve the quality of patient-provider discussions of cancer clinical trials and the subsequent accrual of Black and White patients with prostate cancer into clinical trials. The effectiveness of the patient-facing intervention was recently tested in a randomized controlled trial in several outpatient oncology clinics within the Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, Michigan and the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center in Baltimore, Maryland. The five-year trial was funded by the National Cancer Institute. 

 

Findings Summary

• Only 44 (22.1%) of participating patients (n = 199) became potentially eligible for an available clinical trial. Patients with higher incomes were more often eligible (>$80,000 vs. <$40,000, adjusted OR = 6.06 [SD, 1.97]; $40,000 – $79,000 vs. <$40,000, adjusted OR = 4.40 [SD, 1.81]).​

• Among eligible patients randomized to the intervention (n = 19) or usual care (n = 25), Black patients randomized to the intervention reported participating more actively than usual care patients, while White intervention patients reported participating less actively (difference, 0.41 vs. −0.34).

• Intervention patients received more trial invitations than usual care patients (73.7% vs. 60.0%); this effect was greater for Black (80.0% vs. 30.0%) than White patients (80.0% vs. 66.7%).

 

Findings suggest the greatest enrollment barrier is eligibility for an available trial, but a communication intervention can improve communication quality and trial invitation rates, especially for eligible Black patients.