Naslov
Are Croatian patients aware of clinical trials?

Autori
Šolić, Ivana ; Stipčić, Ana ; Marušić, Ana

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Skup
8th Croatian Cochrane Symposium

Mjesto i datum
Split, Hrvatska, 09.05.2016

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Poster

Vrsta recenzije
Podatak o recenziji nije dostupan

Ključne riječi
clinical trials, clinical research, patient awareness

Sažetak
Background: There is a constant increase in new clinical trials, but patients often remain uninformed of their existence, especially if they do not have access to adequate information about clinical research. Objectives: To assess how informed Croatian patients are about clinical trials. Methods: We performed a survey study on a convenience sample of 257 patients visiting two family medicine offices, patients from the Department of Oncology of the University of Split Hospital Centre, members of patients’ associations, and patients answering a web-survey publicized online. The survey responses were collected in a 2- month period in 2015. The survey was voluntary and anonymous, and was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Split School of Medicine. Results: Survey respondents were mostly 41 to 80 years old (67%), and 53% were women. 21% were members of patients’ associations. Although 66% of the respondents were aware of clinical trials, only 15% were informed about possibilities of participating in a trial. Furthermore, although 58% of the respondents were willing to try new treatments, only 6% actually participated in a clinical trial. Men significantly more often reported being informed about clinical trials than women (63% vs. 37%, P=0.021). Although they reported that they can talk to physicians about their disease, a half of the respondents searched for more information, mostly from friends (33%) or on the Internet (41%) mostly using general internet searches rather than specialized health sites. Only 2% of the respondents were aware of publicly available trial registries, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. Respondents who were members of patients’ associations were more likely to report being informed about clinical trial and to actually participate in a trial. Conclusions: The awareness of Croatian patients about clinical trials and the possibilities of participating in them is rather low, despite reported availability of Internet access and good communication with their physicians. There is a need for active public health measures to increase the awareness of and access to clinical trials to patients in Croatia.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

POVEZANOST RADA