Abstract
This retrospective descriptive analysis explores underrepresented minority men in our clinical trial for restorative therapy for erectile dysfunction and to identify strategies to promote diversity and inclusion in the study population. Demographic data were collected from all participants and the prevalence in our population was compared to the source population. The proportion of individuals taking part in our clinical trial was compared to the overall disease population using the participation to prevalence ratio. Among the 61 participants enrolled in the Platelet-Rich Plasma for Erectile Dysfunction trial, 72.1% were Hispanic compared to 39.9% in the national source population. There were 27.9% non-Hispanic participants, and 41.2% non-Hispanic men in the local South Florida population. The racial composition of our study shows 80.3% of PRP participants identify as White, 16.4% as Black, and 3.4% as Asian. In the national source population, 61.8% of patients were White, 27.5% are black, and 1.5% are Asian. Through the implementation of strategies such as having Hispanic team members on the clinical trial staff and providing education and outreach materials both in Spanish and English, we were able to overcome barriers to participation in Hispanic men and potentially improve health outcomes for underrepresented minority men with erectile dysfunction.
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Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in PUBMED at https://doi.org/10.1097/JU.0000000000003481. The authors also confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and its Supplementary Materials. Local and National epidemiology data also available publicly at URIDE and HCN networks.
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This work was supported by NIH Grant R01 DK130991 to RR.
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BRL, RR, JW, and RGS designed research; BRL and RGS performed research; BRL and RGS analyzed data; and BRL, JT, RGS, AG, AA, MCSA, and RR wrote the manuscript.
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Ledesma, B.R., Thomas, J., Ghomeshi, A. et al. Exploring representation of underrepresented minority men in a restorative therapy clinical trial for erectile dysfunction: addressing barriers and promoting inclusion. Int J Impot Res (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41443-023-00747-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41443-023-00747-9