Centre for Policy on Ageing



Including older people in clinical research — benefits shown in trials in younger people may not apply to older people
Author(s)	Marion E T McMurdo, Miles D Witham, Neil D Gillespie
Journal title	British Medical Journal, vol 331, no 7524, 5 November 2005
Pages	pp 1036-1037
Source	http://www.bmj.com
Keywords	Older people ; Clinical surveys ; Research ; Participation.
Annotation	Given the perception that older people are regarded as the "core business of the NHS", it might be expected that researchers would be keen to involve older people in clinical trials. The evidence is widespread, however, that older people are excluded from clinical research. In 1997, the British Medical Journal reported that one third of research papers published in four major medical journals excluded older people without justification. The authors have repeated this analysis for papers published in 2004: almost 13% still unjustifiably excluded older people, and fewer than 5% of the papers were specific to older people. They suggest possible reasons: drop-out rates; the perception of older people as vulnerable and in need of protection from researchers; and general perceived difficulties in enrolling older people. As the greatest burden of disease falls on older people, the authors conclude that research activity should reflect that fact. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-051108208 A
Classmark	B: 3G: 3A: TMB *
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.