Historically, minority groups have been underrepresented in research and clinical trials. The lack of participation by minorities has been attributed to variety of factors including a mistrust of the predominately white research establishments and a lack of education about the purpose of research. The current study was designed to determine African-American interest in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) research and to recruit African Americans as normal controls in current AD studies with the goal of eventually gaining consent for brain donation upon death. Participants were 46 African Americans aged 65 or older who were interviewed about knowledge of medical procedures and experience with research. After initial recruitment interviews, 31.7% of participants agreed to yearly testing with eventual brain donation. Study findings suggest a moderate relationship between participants’ knowledge of medical procedures used to prolong life and willingness to donate one’s brain.

Successful African American recruitment for aging research requires sensitivity to factors that influence participation. In this work, a structured face to face educational interview was used to recruit African Americans for a longitudinal aging study and to collect information about attitudes related to research. The interview was designed to build trust and respect for research and to educate participants about the need for minority participants. Of the 91 African Americans aged 65 and older who completed interviews, 65 (71%) agreed to participate in the longitudinal study and approximately half agreed to brain donation. Those who enrolled and consented to brain donation were more likely to consider benefit to themselves or direct family unit as the main motivator for participation (P <0.01). The study also found a significant increase in agreement to brain donation across enrollment periods (P=0.0005).

Interventions are needed to educate doctors about drug costs and provide them with reliable, easily accessible cost information in real-world practice.

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