COMMUNITY CLINICAL ONCOLOGY PROGRAM PARTICIPATION IN THE BREAST-CANCER PREVENTION TRIAL - FACTORS AFFECTING ACCRUAL

Cancer prevention and control involves a diverse spectrum of activitie s that range from preventing the disease to providing rehabilitation t o its survivors. The range of activities included within the definitio n of cancer prevention and control makes it difficult to determine fac tors that would predict accrual to specific cancer prevention and cont rol trials, The participation of 36 CCOP organizations in the National Cancer Institute-sponsored Breast Cancer Prevention Trial (BCPT) pres ented the opportunity to assess the ability of Community Clinical Onco logy Program (CCOPs) to enroll subjects in one of the nation's first l arge-scale cancer prevention trials and to compare characteristics of CCOP accrual to the BCPT with factors associated with accrual by CCOPs to cancer treatment and other cancer prevention and control clinical trials, Although representing only 13% of participating health care or ganizations, CCOPs presently contribute nearly 30% of total BCPT accru al, Comparison of regression models representing accrual to treatment, cancer control, and chemoprevention (i,e,, BCPT) protocols shows simi lar predictors between treatment and chemoprevention models, Cancer co ntrol models, however, did not share similar predictors, Thus, accrual to chemoprevention trials is associated, to a greater extent, with th e characteristics that facilitate accrual to treatment trials rather t han to cancer control trials, Results have implications for the planni ng and ongoing management of cancer treatment, control, and chemopreve ntion clinical trials.