UMass study: Seniors excluded from many coronavirus studies

Photo | Courtesy | UMass Medical School Benjamin Helfand, a MD/PhD student at UMass Medical School

Write a Comment

Older adults are at a greater risk of harm from the coronavirus pandemic, but a UMass Medical School-related study says more than half of COVID-19 trials exclude that key age demographic.

The research, co-authored by Benjamin Helfand, a MD/PhD student at the Worcester school, said older adults have also been excluded from all vaccine trials initiated early in the pandemic. The study was published Sept. 28 by JAMA Internal Medicine.

Helfand called it critical to have trials enrolling seniors, and to better understand why they're being excluded from such studies. Nationally, eight out of 10 coronavirus deaths have been among those 65 or older, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"They’re the ones who are getting impacted with the most morbidity and mortality," Helfand said in a statement.

Helfand and five other authors looked at nearly 850 trials registered between last fall and June 1 of this year. Almost one in four had an age cutoff that excluded older adults, often because of concerns about consent, they found. But the authors said trials could more easily include seniors with better preparation, staff training and expertise on aging.