Evaluating minority representation across health care settings in hidradenitis suppurativa and psoriasis.

BACKGROUND

Females and minorities have been underrepresented in clinical research despite legislative efforts, including in hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) and psoriasis (PsO) clinical trials.

OBJECTIVE

To identify differences in demographic breakdowns of HS and PsO patients between health care settings to uncover any causative health disparities.

METHODS

This study reports racial, ethnic, and sex of HS and PsO patient populations across the emergency department (ED), inpatient, clinical trial, and registry settings. In addition, 95% confidence intervals are used as proxies of statistical significance to compare demographics between settings.

RESULTS

Female, Hispanic, and Black patients were underrepresented in HS clinical trials compared to their population prevalence (female: 63.7% vs 73.5%; Hispanic: 3.8% vs 12.0%; Black: 9.1% vs 20.3%). Female and Black patients were underrepresented in PsO trials compared to their population prevalence (female: 33.0% vs 54.8%; Black: 2.2% vs 5.7%). Black patients were overrepresented in the inpatient and ED settings in HS (inpatient vs ED vs population prevalence: 49.9% vs 49.9% vs 20.3%) and in the inpatient setting in PsO (inpatient vs population prevalence: 19.8% vs 5.7%).

LIMITATIONS: The main limitation is the reliability and generalizability of the published studies used to compare demographics across settings.

CONCLUSION

Underrepresentation of females and minorities in HS and PsO clinical trials is consistent with published literature. Overrepresentation of Black patients in acute care settings is likely multifactorial.