Background/Purpose: To develop effective novel treatment strategies for psoriatic arthritis that cater to patients from diverse backgrounds, it is crucial that all racial groups, without exception, have equal opportunities to participate in clinical trials.

Methods: Using ClinicalTrials.gov, a web-based resource that registers all studies meeting the definition of a clinical trial according to the International Committee on Medical Journal Editors, we identified all phase 1 to phase 4 psoriatic arthritis clinical trials. We manually abstracted data on the racial distribution of enrolled participants, sex distribution, trial phase, location, and year of trial reporting. Additionally, we conducted subgroup analyses of racial distribution based on trial phase and location and evaluated trends in racial disparity within clinical trial enrollment over the years.

Results: We identified 84 clinical trials related to Psoriatic arthritis, of which 91.6% were done in Europe or the United States. Most of these were phase 3 clinical trials (60.7%). The racial distribution of enrolled participants was publicly available in 51(60.7%)  clinical trials. The race distribution of enrolled subjects was reported in 50% of Phase 1, 70.6% in Phase 2, 60.9% in Phase 3 and 60% in Phase 4. The race distribution among 15266 study participants in 51 clinical trials was: 85.1% Whites (12997), 1.25 % Blacks (182), 9.2% Asians (1399), 2% other races (306), and 1.6% (246) subjects with unreported race. The same race distribution trend was observed across all subgroups of clinical trials based on phase. The sex distribution, as seen throughout the trials, was 51.9% in males(13998) and 48.1% in females(12959).

Conclusion: Our research has shown that only 60.7% of psoriatic arthritis studies had racial distribution published. We noted a decreased representation of blacks, whereas a higher representation of Asians. Strategies to implement equitable representation in clinical trials in psoriatic arthritis are needed.

ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/racial-and-gender-disparities-in-psoriatic-arthritis-clinical-trials/