Elderly patients in randomized clinical trials: ethical issues

Abstract

Considering patients of elderly and senile age, pronounced discrimination continues to be observed, expressed in their insufficient inclusion or non-inclusion in randomized clinical trials. As a result, the clinical recommendations based on the results of such studies cannot be fully applicable to this category of patients. The problems of inclusion/non-inclusion of older people in clinical trials are numerous. The reasons for their occurrence and solutions affect, among other things, the ethical sphere. Compliance with basic ethical principles such as respect for persons, beneficence and justice should underlie the decision to include a patient in a study. In general, when evaluating these ethical principles from the point of view of the well-being of the entire population of elderly and senile patients, it is necessary to rethink the principles according to which this category of patients was excluded from clinical trials.