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Ethnic Minority Participation in Clinical Trials from Latin America and the Caribbean: A Scoping Review

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Abstract

We summarize the clinical trials (CTs) main characteristics, including members of ethnic minorities from Latin America. We carried out a systematic search in six databases. We made a descriptive synthesis of CTs, summarizing the characteristics, interventions, main findings, results, and conclusions reported. 4411 studies were acquired in search strategy, leaving 24 CTs in the final selection. Of these, ten were randomized, four were non-randomized, and the remainder had other designs. Most of the studies were carried out in the population of infants and children (08), ten of the studies included only women, and two studies included men. Nine studies were conducted in Mexico, with the Mayan ethnic minority being mostly evaluated (05). In only 15 it was mentioned that their research was approved by a research ethics committee. Finally, half of the CTs reported funding from international agencies and third reported funding from government agencies. Our results show that that CTs in ethnic minorities are limited and reduced to a few native peoples of the continent.

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The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidad Privada del Norte, Trujillo, Peru

    Percy Herrera-Añazco

  2. Sociedad Científica de Estudiantes de Medicina de La Universidad Nacional de Trujillo, Trujillo, Peru

    Jerry K. Benites-Meza & Enrique A. Hernandez-Bustamante

  3. Grupo Peruano de Investigación Epidemiológica, Unidad de Investigación para la Generación y Síntesis de Evidencias en Salud, Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola, Lima, Peru

    Jerry K. Benites-Meza & Enrique A. Hernandez-Bustamante

  4. Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa, Arequipa, Peru

    Brenda Caira-Chuquineyra

  5. Carrera de Medicina Humana, Universidad Científica del Sur, Lima, Peru

    Daniel Fernandez-Guzman

  6. Unidad de Investigación para la Generación y Síntesis de Evidencias en Salud, Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola, Lima, Peru

    Vicente A. Benites-Zapata

  7. Vicerrectorado de Investigación, Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola, Campus 2, avenida La Fontana 750, La Molina, Lima, Peru

    Vicente A. Benites-Zapata

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  1. Percy Herrera-Añazco
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by JKB-M, BC-C, DF-G and EAH-B. The first draft of the manuscript was written by PH-A and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Vicente A. Benites-Zapata.

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Herrera-Añazco, P., Benites-Meza, J.K., Caira-Chuquineyra, B. et al. Ethnic Minority Participation in Clinical Trials from Latin America and the Caribbean: A Scoping Review. J Immigrant Minority Health 26, 604–622 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-023-01578-y

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