Cross sectional analysis of clinical trials search results for cancer patients using a navigator-assisted clinical trials search using five different search engines
Milica Paunic, Sanghyuk Rim, Olla Hilal, Renée Nassar, Zoe Driedger, Farwa Zaib, Kayla Touma, Mahmoud Hossami, Rhonda Abdel-Nabi, Roaa Hirmiz, Caroline Hamm
Abstract
Background
Clinical trials play a critical role in providing patients with access to novel treatments and therapies. However, limitations in clinical trial search engines impede healthcare professionals and patients from accessing the most suitable clinical trials. This study aimed to address this issue by conducting a critical analysis of several prominent clinical trial search websites, including ClinicalTrials.gov, Canadian Cancer Trials, Clinical Trials Ontario, Canadian Cancer Clinical Trials Network, and Q-CROC.
Introduction
According to the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), every person with cancer should have the opportunity to participate in a clinical trial [1]. Clinical trials offer access to cutting-edge therapies and are the gold standard in the establishment of new and effective treatments [2]. Better patient outcomes are reported in hospitals that are involved in trials [3]. As well, patient groups with lower participation in clinical trials have reported lower improvements in overall survival [3,4]. Enrolling patients at a higher rate advances treatment at a faster rate allowing for concurrent survival to increase [5].
Materials and method
Patients who had subscribed to the CTN program were included in this study. Sequential patients who were registered between July 6, 2022 and September 14, 2022 were selected for this analysis. We opted not to extend the study duration beyond September due to the implementation of new clinical trial navigators at the conclusion of this timeframe. This decision was made to maintain consistency in participant interaction and data collection methodologies throughout the study. In addition, having roughly received 100 patient referrals a year, the 18 patients were considered a reasonable proportion of the yearly total.
Results
We examined eighteen cancer patients registered in the CTN who had had searches performed by three different navigators. The median age of these patients referred to the CTN program was 67 (31–81) years of age. 56% of the referred patients were male, 39% were female, and one patient lacked gender information. Out of the 18 patients, 56% had a stage 4 or relapsed refractory cancer with the most common cancers occurring in greater than 10% of referred patients being pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and brain cancer (11% pancreatic cancer, 11% breast cancer, 17% colorectal, and 28% brain cancer).
Discussion
Based on the five cancer clinical trials websites searched (ClinicalTrials.gov, 3CTN, Q-CROC, Ontario Clinical Trials, and Canadian Cancer Trials), our study found that the current clinical trials search system contains several challenges. We categorized the challenges into the following: lack of reproducibility, undiscoverable trials, lack of standardized and inclusive search terms, inadequate or out of date information to complete a meaningful trials search (including lack of adequate filters such as prior therapies) and errors in search engines.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Lee McGrath for her contribution in providing administrative support, managing finances, and facilitating marketing efforts associated with this research project. Her expertise was invaluable to the success of the study. We would also like to thank Dr. Rong Luo from the University of Windsor for their invaluable statistical expertise in analyzing the data.
Citation: Paunic M, Rim S, Hilal O, Nassar R, Driedger Z, Zaib F, et al. (2025) Cross sectional analysis of clinical trials search results for cancer patients using a navigator-assisted clinical trials search using five different search engines. PLoS One 20(6): e0326139. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0326139
Editor: Vahid Mansouri, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, IRAN, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF
Received: August 5, 2023; Accepted: May 23, 2025; Published: June 25, 2025
Copyright: © 2025 Paunic et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Data Availability: All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files.
Funding: Canadian Cancer Clinical Trials Network C.H. No applicable grant number. https://3ctn.ca/. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript WeSpark Health Institute C.H. No applicable grant number. https://www.wesparkhealth.com/. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript Cancer Research Collaboration Fund C.H. No applicable grant number. https://wecf.ca/community-engagement/cancer-research-collaboration-fund/. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript TD Bank C.H. No applicable grant number. https://www.td.com/us/en/about-us/communities/ready-commitment/funding-opportunities/td-charitable-foundation. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
