Racial and ethnic minority participants in clinical trials of acute respiratory distress syndrome

Purpose There is growing interest in improving the inclusiveness of racial and ethnic minority participants in trials of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). With our study we aimed to examine temporal trends of representation and mortality of racial and ethnic minority participants in randomized controlled trials of ARDS. Methods We performed a secondary analysis of eight ARDS Network and PETAL Network therapeutic clinical trials, published between 2000 and 2019. We classified race/ethnicity into “White”, “Black”, “Hispanic”, or “Other” (including Asian, American Indian or Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian, or other Pacific Islander participants). Results Of 5375 participants with ARDS, 1634 (30.4%) were Black, Hispanic, or Other race participants. Representation of racial and ethnic minority participants in trials did not change significantly over time ( p = 0.257). However, among participants with moderate to severe ARDS (i.e., partial pressure of arterial oxygen to fraction of inspired oxygen ratio