Young Adults in Clinical Trials: A Roundtable Proceedings

At its sixth roundtable in a series focused on young adults with chronic conditions, Generation Patient convened a multi-stakeholder learning community to discuss barriers to young adult participation in clinical trials. As the prevalence of chronic conditions among young adults in the U.S. increases, there is urgency for participation in clinical trials to better address their needs. A new set of proceedings, co-authored by young adults with chronic conditions and published in the Open Access Journal of Clinical Trials, outline the roundtable discussion and recommendations.

The authors advocate for the disaggregation of data to better highlight ages of clinical trial participants and support efforts to create a nationally agreed upon definition of “young adult.” The proceedings also explore the difficulty of clinical trial participation due to developmental and situational instability of young adults, including the transition from pediatric to adult care; the benefits of close collaboration between young adult patients and researchers; and the necessity for data to be reflective of the young adult patient population.