Ishwaria Subbiah on Elderly Patients Enrolling in Clinical Trials

Ishwaria Mohan Subbiah, MD, of MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the importance of elderly patients enrolling in clinical trials.

It is important to empower patients over the age of 65 to learn about, consider, and discuss with their healthcare team the possibility of going on a clinical trial. Patients should be as educated as possible, and thanks to resources like clinicaltrials.gov, that knowledge is more accessible than ever. However, many patients are still apprehensive about enrolling, so it is crucial for the healthcare team to work to address these fears.

Subbiah conducted a study that found although elderly patients make up more than 50% of the new cancer diagnoses in the United States each year, they are a much smaller proportion of patients enrolled in clinical trials. To ensure that trials accurately represent the people who are getting cancer, more people over the age of 65 should enroll.