Awareness and Perceptions of Clinical Trials in Cancer Patients and Their Families in Saudi Arabia

Despite the increasing number of medical articles being published from the Middle East, clinical research is still lagging behind compared to other regions. Enrolling participants into clinical trials presents an important challenge. We wanted to explore the perception, knowledge, and willingness of cancer patients to participate in oncology clinical trials and to recommend strategies to overcome these challenges. A 31-item questionnaire was administered to cancer patients and their family members in an outpatient clinic. Two hundred four patients and family members were enrolled between December 2011 and February 2013. Fifty-eight percent of the participants were aware of clinical trials. Some misconceptions included the following: 22 % believed that no clinical trials were conducted in the Arab world, 19 % believed that clinical trials in the Arab world were not under any regulatory authority supervision, and 15 % believed that local clinical trials are conducted on subjects without their consent. One third of patients assumed that clinical trials are executed on animals instead of humans, and greater than 40 % believed that clinical trials are performed for new medications only. Finally, 61 % of the survey participants who were aware of clinical trials expressed their willingness to participate in trials. This large cohort survey demonstrated that a relatively significant number of Saudi cancer patients and their families are aware of clinical trials and a similarly high number of participants are willing to participate in clinical trials. This leads us to believe that patients’ awareness and perception of clinical trials are not a significant limiting factor in clinical trial recruitment in our region.