New Findings Reported from Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health Describe Advances in Managed Care (Disparities in clinical trial participation among older adult Medicare beneficiaries with hematologic malignancies from 2006 to …): Managed Care

2025 DEC 22 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Current study results on Managed Care have been published. According to news originating from Boston, Massachusetts, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Clinical trials (CTs) are essential for expanding treatment options across hematologic malignancies (HM) and providing access to novel treatments. However, older adults with HM are often underrepresented in CTs, and a national-level evaluation of factors influencing their participation is lacking.”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health, “The authors conducted a retrospective cohort study using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare database, identifying patients 66 years old diagnosed with HM between 2006 and 2018 (follow-up to December 2019). CT participation was defined by Medicare claims for CT services. Cumulative incidence and Fine-Gray models were used to estimate participation rates and adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) assessed the association between participation and sociodemographic factors. The cohort (n = 53,919) was 50% female, median age 78 years old, and 86% White. Cumulative incidence of CT participation was low at 2.7% at 1 year after diagnosis, increasing to 4.3% at 5 years. After adjustment for the competing risk of death, significantly lower CT participation was observed for older age (vs. 66-69 years: aHR for 70-74 years, 0.79 [95% CI, 0.71-0.88]; aHR for 75-79 years, 0.63 [95% CI, 0.56-0.70]; aHR for 80-84 years, 0.41 [95% CI, 0.36-0.46]; aHR for 85 years, 0.21 [95% CI, 0.18-0.24]), female sex (aHR, 0.79 [95% CI, 0.73-0.86]), Black race (aHR, 0.73 [95% CI, 0.59-0.90]), certain comorbidities (aHR for pulmonary disease, 0.76 [95% CI, 0.68-0.85]; aHR for renal disease, 0.67 [95% CI, 0.59-0.76]), dual Medicare-Medicaid eligibility (aHR, 0.66 [95% CI, 0.56-0.77]), and distance to National Cancer Institute centers from the patient’s ZIP code (aHR for 250 miles, 0.64 [95% CI, 0.48-0.86]).”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “These results highlight the need for targeted interventions, such as CT navigator programs and decentralized trials, to increase older adult participation in HM CTs.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Disparities in clinical trial participation among older adult Medicare beneficiaries with hematologic malignancies from 2006 to 2019: A SEER-Medicare analysis. Cancer, 2025;131(24). Cancer can be contacted at: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA. (Wiley-Blackwell - http://www.wiley.com/; Cancer - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1097-0142)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from Mark J. Soto, Dept. of Health Policy and Management, Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Additional authors for this research include Inna Y. Gong, Bahar Rafinejad-Farahani, Joseph M. Unger, Rena M. Conti, Carmen E. Guerra, Amit Oza, Meredith Rosenthal and Danielle Rodin.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.70204. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

The publisher’s contact information for the journal Cancer is: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA.

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