It is widely believed that racial and ethnic minorities are less willing to participate in health research. Such claims often focus on the US, where it is believed that minority groups' relative unwillingness to participate in health research traces to historic abuses, especially the notorious Tuskegee Syphilis Study. We found that racial and ethnic minorities in the US, particularly African-Americans and Hispanics, are as willing to participate, and in some instances more willing to participate, in health research than non-Hispanic whites, when eligible and invited to participate. These findings suggest that efforts to remedy any underrepresentation of minority groups in health research should focus on ensuring equal access to health research for all groups, not on changing attitudes. Efforts to increase minority groups' access to clinical research studies should focus on a range of considerations, including inviting minority groups to participate, using sites accessible to minority groups, and identifying and attempting to address factors that may undermine the participation of individuals from minority groups, such as the need for child care or reimbursement of travel expenses.
