Access to government funded cancer clinical trials – geospatial evaluation of clinical trials infrastructure in the US

Keywords: GIS, Access to clinical trials, advocacy
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

Some people with cancer in the US participate in clinical trials as part of their cancer treatment. While people would be willing to travel for the opportunity to participate in a clinical trial, geographic distance is a barrier to participating.

Executing clinical trials requires infrastructure, staff and financial resources, and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has an important role in funding the research staff and infrastructure needed through programs like the Cancer Center Support Grants (P-30) or NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) grants. The American Cancer Society (ACS) and its advocacy partner, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) continue to advocate for policy changes to improve access to clinical trials for cancer patients. Our project assesses the geographic distribution of NCI funded clinical trial infrastructure and whether it aligns with the geographic burden of cancer. We further assess whether there are geographic gaps and provide the characteristics for those areas, including demographics, cancer burden and rural/urban status.

We present the model designed to answer those questions and discuss the different facets of the problem to consider. We describe the integration of different data resources and the geospatial analysis used to implement the model, including the definition of geographic access and the selection of the geographic level of analysis to enable the development of policy and advocacy plans. We describe observed differences and potential disparities in access to clinical trials and discuss opportunities to bridge the gap and increase access.