A study aimed at tracking the coronavirus in Oregon and understanding its effects on minorities is now dead because Oregon Health & Science University, which is leading the study, failed to ensure that enough minorities they would sign up to participate.
The Key to Oregon study, which projected to cost $ 24 million, was monitoring coronavirus symptoms in 100,000 people and regularly testing 1,010 Oregonians who volunteered. One of the original goals was to get people of color to sign up to participate, but that did not happen.
“OHSU realizes that this research cohort does not currently represent the state in the way that is necessary,” the university said Thursday morning in a statement.
With a random sample of 2.4% of Oregon’s population, the study was expected to help the state understand where the virus is most prevalent, catch new cases and outbreaks early, open schools faster and help future outbreaks to prevent, the university said.
Gov. Kate Brown called the program a “game changer” when it was announced in May.
The failure of the program is a big hit for Oregon’s effort to control, study, and ultimately curb the pandemic. The pandemic has affected black people, American Indians and Pacific Islanders particularly hard, with business rates many times higher than those for whites.
But in OHSU’s efforts to enroll Oregonians, the university struggled to enroll them and other underrepresented populations. This was because OHSU did not ensure that community representatives participated in the design of the study, the university said. The university later realized some of the shortcomings of the study and, in June, recruited outside experts to help refer the study.
One of those experts, Dr. Frank Franklin, said he knew immediately that the study would not reach enough people of color. The Multnomah County epidemiologist said that in a state like Oregon, where people of color represent just a fraction of the population, postcards with mass mail to any section of the population would proportionally get a few people of color around them. to enter.
Instead, researchers were able to target communities directly, even if that would have changed the fundamental structure of the study. Direct delivery may not meet the gold standard of a randomized study, he said, but it is better than not studying the communities at all.
Asking people to participate is particularly important in the case of minority communities because of the historical distrust these communities have of medical officials, said Rachael Banks, director of public health at Multnomah County.
“Even if we had the best methodology, we need to develop confidence,” Banks said.
Oregon has other programs to track the spread of disease, Drs. Dean Sidelinger, the state’s chief medical officer, though no one can provide the same state perspective as the discontinued OHSU study.
Monica Maxwell, a Spanish Oregonian, was rejected by OHSU after trying to enroll in the study, according to emails she sent to The Oregonian / OregonLive newsroom. Maxwell wrote an email to the university in May asking to participate, adding that she is Spanish. In its response, the university said the study would only cover the randomly selected.
“I hope it would be a Spanish woman who would give her information they would not otherwise have,” Maxwell said.
That’s exactly the kind of person Franklin said could be invited to participate in the study.
Finally, Franklin praised OHSU for possessing its mistakes in pulling the plug on the project.
“I respect the humility capable of making that difficult decision,” Franklin said.
Are you registered or trying to register for this program? If so, please email or call.
Oregon Public Broadcasting contributed to this report
– Fedor Zarkhin
971-373-2905
