Adolescent and Young Adult Enrollment to An NCI-Sponsored National Clinical Trials Network Research Group Over 25 Years

AYA cancer patients were well represented in SWOG clinical trials compared to U.S. cancer population patients with the same cancers. The SWOG AYA population was more diverse than older SWOG patients, though less racially/ethnically diverse than the U.S. AYA cancer population. Adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer patients (ages 15–39 years) have not seen the same improvements in survival compared to younger (pediatric) and older (adults≥40 years) patients. This may be related to their lower participation in clinical trials. We evaluated the extent to which AYA patients are enrolled to a large, NCI-sponsored network group over 25 years (1996 through 2020). Overall, 8.4% (7,109/84,219) enrolled patients were AYA, twice the corresponding rate of 3.8% in the U.S. cancer population. AYA patients were also more racially/ethnically diverse than older trial patients, though less racially/ethnically diverse than the U.S. AYA cancer population.