Addressing the Ethnicity Gap in Catechol O-Methyl Transferase Inhibitor Trials in Parkinson's Disease: A Review of Available Global Data

Catechol-O-methyltransferase inhibitors (COMT-Is) have significantly improved the quality of life and symptom management for those at advanced stages of Parkinson's Disease (PD). Given that PD is one of the fastest-growing neurodegenerative diseases worldwide, there is a need to establish a cle...

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Published inJournal of personalized medicine Vol. 14; no. 9; p. 939
Main Authors Poplawska-Domaszewicz, Karolina, Limbachiya, Naomi, Qamar, Mubasher, Batzu, Lucia, Jones, Shelley, Sauerbier, Anna, Rota, Silvia, Lau, Yue Hui, Chaudhuri, K Ray
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Switzerland MDPI AG 03.09.2024
MDPI
Subjects
Catechol O-methyltransferase
Clinical trials
Diseases
Drug dosages
Dyskinesia
Entacapone
Enzymes
Ethnicity
Genotype & phenotype
Medical research
Medicine, Experimental
Minorities
Minority & ethnic groups
Movement disorders
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism & pluralism
Neurodegenerative diseases
Parkinson's disease
Product development
Quality of life
Symptom management
Tolcapone
Transferases
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
diversity
polymorphism
COMT
Parkinson’s disease
pharmacogenetics
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Summary:Catechol-O-methyltransferase inhibitors (COMT-Is) have significantly improved the quality of life and symptom management for those at advanced stages of Parkinson's Disease (PD). Given that PD is one of the fastest-growing neurodegenerative diseases worldwide, there is a need to establish a clear framework for the systematic distribution of COMT-Is, considering inter-individual and intra-individual variations in patient response. One major barrier to this is the underrepresentation of ethnic minority participants in clinical trials investigating COMT-Is. To investigate this, we performed a narrative review. We searched PubMed for clinical trials investigating COMT-Is in patients with PD and examined the ethnic diversity of cohorts. A total of 63 articles were identified, with 34 trials found to match our inclusion criteria. Among the 34 trials meeting our inclusion criteria, only 8 reported participants' ethnic backgrounds. Our findings reveal a consistent underrepresentation of ethnic minority groups in trials investigating COMT-Is in PD cohorts-a trend that reflects broader concerns across clinical research. In this review, we explore potential reasons for the underrepresentation of ethnic minorities in clinical trials and propose strategies to address this issue.
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These authors contributed equally to this work.
ISSN:2075-4426
2075-4426
DOI:10.3390/jpm14090939