Working Paper: NBER ID: w31732
Authors: Marcella Alsan; Romaine A. Campbell; Lukas Leister; Ayotomiwa Ojo
Abstract: We investigate whether increased racial diversity of clinical trial principal investigators could increase the enrollment of Black patients, which currently lags population and disease-burden shares. We conducted a survey experiment in which respondents were shown a photo of a current NIH investigator in which race (Black/White) was randomized. Sex was also randomized as a relevant benchmark. Black respondents reported 0.35 standard deviation units higher interest in participating in a clinical study led by a race concordant investigator (a 12.6% increase). Sex concordance had no effect. Further analyses indicate that perceived trustworthiness and attractiveness are the most important factors explaining these results.
Keywords: racial diversity; clinical trials; black patients; participation; trustworthiness
JEL Codes: I14; I18
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Exposure to a race-concordant investigator (C90) | Willingness to participate in medical research among black adults (I14) |
| Perceived trustworthiness (D83) | Willingness to participate in medical research among black adults (I14) |
| Perceived attractiveness (D91) | Willingness to participate in medical research among black adults (I14) |
| Exposure to a race-concordant investigator (C90) | Perceived trustworthiness (D83) |
| Exposure to a race-concordant investigator (C90) | Perceived attractiveness (D91) |