Enrolment of adolescents and young adults with cancer (AYAWC) to clinical trials at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO).

Abstract

e18043 Background: Five-year survival among AYAWC has seen less improvement than in other age groups. One hypothesized reason is low accrual to clinical trials, for which the reasons need further determination. Our objectives were to determine the enrolment of AYAWC on treatment clinical trials at CHEO, a tertiary care pediatric hospital in Ottawa, Canada and to determine barriers to enrolment of AYAWC compared to younger patients. Methods: A retrospective chart review of patients diagnosed at CHEO over 10 years from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2015 was performed. AYAWC included 15-18 year olds, and younger patients included 0-14 year olds. Patients 18 years and older are treated at adult centers. The number of patients enrolled on an upfront treatment clinical trial was collected while those not enrolled were reviewed for documented non-enrolment reasons. Clinical trials available at CHEO during this time period were also recorded. Results: A total of 733 patients were diagnosed with 96 AYAWC and 637 younger patients. The proportion of patients enrolled on clinical trials was 19.8% (19) AYAWC and 27.3% (174) younger patients (p = 0.12). Trials were not available for 57.3% (55) of AYAWC and 53.7% (342) of younger patients for their disease type (p = 0.51). For the remaining 41 AYAWC, 46.3% were enrolled. For AYAWC not enrolled, 40.9% had a reason documented: for 22.2% a physician felt it was not in the patient’s best interest, 44.4% did not meet eligibility, 33.3% of families/patients declined. For the remaining 295 of younger patients that had trials available, 59% enrolled on a trial. For younger patients not enrolled, 25.6% had another reason documented: for 25.8% a physician felt it was not in the patient’s best interest, 45.2% did not meet trial eligibility, 25.8% of families/patients declined, 3.2% other reason. Conclusions: There were fewer AYAWC enrolled on trials compared to younger children. There were not fewer trials available for AYAWC patients than younger children. For patients not enrolled, the majority did not have an open trial available and otherwise, reasons for non-enrolment did not differ significantly between groups. Next steps could include data from local adult centers.