Women who choose not to participate in a clinical trial may be significantly more likely to later regret that decision than women who choose to participate in the study, according to a team of Penn State researchers.

The finding may help hospitals and health researchers attract more recruits for clinical trials, a task which many physicians consider the biggest obstacle to conducting these trials, according to the researchers. Typically, as many as 20 percent of a given population of patients are eligible to participate in clinical research. However, of those, only 2 to 7 percent choose to do so.

"Clinical trials are crucial, they are what we use to make discoveries in the medical field," said James Dillard, professor of communication arts and sciences. "Every time a doctor makes a directive, that information is generally based on the results of clinical trials."

The researchers, who report their findings in the current issue of Patient Education and Counseling, said emotions played a strong role in the decisions of women who entered a recent clinical trial. Of 100 healthy women surveyed, 72 responded that they had agreed to participate.

The women who participated in the clinical trial reported more positive emotions and significantly fewer negative emotions than those who did not participate. Participants saw their participation in the trial as a way to help other people and that their involvement was helpful to the process of finding medical treatments. People who did not participate were 36 times more likely to suffer negative emotions, such as regret, for not participating, said Dillard, who worked with Bonnie J. F. Meyer, professor of educational psychology, Denise H. Solomon, research professor of communication arts and sciences and Andrea Manni, professor of medicine.

Low enrollment in clinical studies could create non-representational studies with findings that may not cover the general population, according to the researchers. To increase enrollments in clinical trials, the researchers suggest that organizers disclose information about the positive emotional benefits of participating, as well as the negative emotional effects of not taking part.

"Recruiters, for example, should focus on how the study is a way to help others, as well as informing possible participants of the potential for regret and other negative feelings for not participating," said Dillard. "In fact, it's ethically responsible to disclose this type of information."

The researchers also found that both economic costs and time commitments remain an obstacle for participation in studies.

"Prior research has shown -- and our study also points out -- that clinical trials need to make it easier in time and travel costs for the participants," said Dillard. "But, what's new in our study is that the data also suggest that emotions are important to figure into the recruitment process."

To conduct the study, the researchers asked participants to take part in a telephone survey after they decided to either join or not join an actual clinical trial investigating reducing breast cancer risk.

Although the study focused on breast cancer, Dillard said he expected similar results from both male and female participants in other types of clinical trials.

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SATURDAY, May 16, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Delaying surgery for kidney stones can increase the risk of complications, raising health care costs, a new study finds.

"These data underscore the importance of prompt attention and treatment of patients presenting with kidney stones," Dr. Howard Adler, associate professor of urology at Stony Brook University in New York, said in a news release from the American Urological Association.

Surgery to remove these small, hard mineral deposits that form inside the kidney has become more common in the United States as prevalence of kidney stones has increased, Adler said. More than one million Americans are expected to be diagnosed with kidney stones this year.

In this study, researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern looked at 795 people who had surgery for kidney stones over two years. A longer time between diagnosis and surgery was associated with a higher rate of complications, and greater use of medical imaging tests and antibiotics.

The median time -- meaning half delayed longer, half less -- from diagnosis to surgery was 79 days, the study authors found. Patients who had surgery more than 45 days after diagnosis were about 15 times more likely to have an unplanned clinic visit, almost six times more likely to have additional medical imaging tests, and about five times more likely to require antibiotics, compared with those who had surgery sooner.

Between diagnosis and surgery, more than half of patients had unplanned emergency department or clinic visits, including 11 percent who required hospitalization, the findings showed.

Adler was scheduled to moderate a press conference on the findings Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association, in New Orleans. Data and conclusions presented at meetings are usually considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

"Delay in treatment not only complicates cases, but impacts the quality of patient care and boosts health care costs," Adler said in the news release.

-- Robert Preidt
Copyright © 2015 HealthDay. All rights reserved.SOURCE: American Urological Association, news release, May 16, 2015

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