Abstract
In 2020, the World Health Organization has characterized COVID-19, a disease caused by infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, as a pandemic. Although a few vaccines and drugs have been approved to, respectively, prevent or treat the disease, several clinical trials are still ongoing to test new vaccines or drugs to mitigate the burden of the pandemic. Few studies have shown the role of host genetics in disease prognosis and drug response highlighting the importance of diverse participation in COVID-19 clinical trials. The goal of this study is to assess public attitudes in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan toward participating in COVID-19 clinical trials and to identify the factors that may influence their attitude. An online questionnaire was developed and distributed among the target group through social media platforms. The number of responses was 1,576. Three quarters (74.9%) of participants heard about clinical trials before, 57.6% of them had a positive attitude toward participation in COVID-19 clinical trials. The conduct of clinical trials in accordance with the scientific, research, and ethical guidelines was a strong predictor of willingness to participate in clinical trials. Other positive factors also included protection of family from COVID-19 and contributing to the return to normal community life as well as receiving additional healthcare benefit was the fourth significant predictor. On the other hand, the thought that clinical trials can have a negative impact on the health of participants strongly predicted the unwillingness of individuals to participate in such trials. This was followed by having limited information about the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 and the lack of trust in physicians and hospitals. In general, Arab citizens are accepting the concept and have a positive attitude toward COVID-19 clinical trials. Increasing awareness of COVID-19 and clinical trials, enforcing the concept of altruism, and placing clear policies in conducting clinical trials are needed to increase participation in clinical trials among Arabs.
Highlights
In December 2019, the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) was first identified during an outbreak of respiratory illness in Wuhan, China [1]
The disease is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and is associated with a variety of symptoms ranging from mild, self-limiting respiratory symptoms, to severe, debilitating illness leading to progressive pneumonia, development of cytokine storm, multi-organ failure, or even death [3, 4]
Analyses of divergent validity revealed that the total scores of “knowledge of clinical trials” significantly correlated with “motivating factors toward participation in COVID-19 clinical trials” (r = 0.31, P = 0.004), the total scores of “perceptions toward COVID-19” section correlated with “attitude toward selfparticipation or participation of a family member in COVID19 vaccine or drug clinical trials” (r = 0.30, P = 0.005), and there was an inverse correlation between “motivating factors toward participation in COVID-19 clinical trials” and “deterring factors of participation in a COVID-19 clinical trial” (r = −0.29, P = 0.007)
Summary
In December 2019, the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) was first identified during an outbreak of respiratory illness in Wuhan, China [1]. Some vaccines and drugs have been approved to prevent or treat the disease [8,9,10], clinical trials are still ongoing to test newer ones that can mitigate the burden of the pandemic. This is important in the case of vaccines considering the insufficient supplies to achieve global immunization against COVID-19. Prevention and treatment of COVID-19 have emerged as critical needs and challenges to find new approaches, which may help in controlling the spread of the pandemic, treating the disease, or alleviate its symptoms. The participation of various ethnic groups in COVID-19 clinical trials is critical in order to assess the efficacy of treatments
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