Qualitative Research on the Unwillingness of Elderly Patients' to Participate in Clinical Research

Introduction: Several retrospective studies highlight a lower inclusion rate in clinical trials (CT) of elderly cancer patients (EC pts) in comparison with adult population. Inequalities in access to clinical research (CR) is one of the causes of non-optimal therapy of elderly pts. Our team has conducted an prospective, observational, and multicentric study (1) to define barriers to enrollment of 65years old pts or older with hematologic malignancies in CT. Only 7% of EC pts are included in CT and only 12,7% were not included because of their refusal.