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Travel distance and time to dermatology clinical trial sites: a cross-sectional geospatial analysis

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Abstract

Despite increasing calls for diversity in clinical trial recruitment, data are lacking regarding disparities in access to dermatologic clinical trials. The objective of this study was to characterize travel distance and time to reach a dermatology clinical trial site considering patient demographic and location characteristics. We determined travel distance and time from every census tract population center in the United States to the nearest dermatologic clinical trial site using ArcGIS and linked travel estimates to demographic characteristics in each census tract based on 2020 American Community Survey. Nationally, patients travel an average of 14.3 miles and 19.7 min to reach a dermatologic clinical trial site. Significantly shorter travel distance and time were observed for urban and Northeast residence, White and Asian race and private insurance relative to rural and Southern residence, Native American and Black race and public insurance (p < 0.001). These findings reveal disparate access regarding geographic region, rurality, race and insurance type, which may encourage investigators to allocate funding for travel assistance for underrepresented and disadvantaged groups to promote access and diversity in dermatologic clinical trials.

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Funding

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, CT, USA

    Eric J. Beltrami & Joseph Masison

  2. Department of Dermatology, University of Connecticut Health Center, 21 South Rd, 2Nd Floor, Farmington, CT, 06032, USA

    Hao Feng

Authors
  1. Eric J. Beltrami
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  2. Joseph Masison
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  3. Hao Feng
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Contributions

EJB completed data collection and wrote the main manuscript text. JM completed analyses and prepared Table 1 and Figure 1. HF conceived the project. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hao Feng.

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Conflict of interest

Hao Feng has consulted for Cytrellis Biosystems, Inc. and Soliton, Inc. The other authors report no conflicts of interest.

IRB approval status

This study did not qualify as human subjects research; therefore, institutional review board approval was not required at the University of Connecticut Health Center.

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Beltrami, E.J., Masison, J. & Feng, H. Travel distance and time to dermatology clinical trial sites: a cross-sectional geospatial analysis. Arch Dermatol Res 315, 1461–1464 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00403-023-02590-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00403-023-02590-w

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