Biospecimen Sharing Among Hispanic Women in a Safety-Net Clinic: Implications for the Precision Medicine Initiative

We present results of a study of 140 Hispanic women who underwent a breast biopsy at a safety-net hospital and were randomly assigned to receive information and request for consent for biospecimen and data sharing by the patient’s physician or a research assistant. Consent rates were high (97.1% and 92.9% in the physician and research assistant arms, respectively) and not different between groups (relative risk [RR] = 1.05, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.96 to 1.10). Consistent with a small but growing literature, we show that perceptions of Hispanics’ unwillingness to participate in biospecimen sharing for research are not supported by data. Safety-net clinics and hospitals offer untapped possibilities for enhancing participation of underserved populations in the exciting Precision Medicine Initiative.

Source: JNCI - September 27, 2016 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Nodora, J. N., Komenaka, I. K., Bouton, M. E., Ohno-Machado, L., Schwab, R., Kim, H.-e., Farcas, C., Perez, G., Elena Martinez, M. Tags: Brief Communication Source Type: research