Dakhil Zainab Atiyah, Farhan Hasan Ali, Marsool Mohammed Dheyaa, Qasim Mohammed Saad, Peters Michele, Leal Jose
Ibn Al-Bitar Cardiac Centre, University of Baghdad/Al-Kindy College of Medicine, Iraq.
Iraqi Scientific Council of Cardioloy, University of Baghdad/College of Medicine, Iraq.
Glob Heart. 2025 Jan 17;20(1):4. doi: 10.5334/gh.1389. eCollection 2025.
Low-middle income countries harbor the highest burden of cardiovascular diseases globally, but there is an under-representation of these countries in cardiovascular clinical trials. This limits the generalizability of the trial results to these countries. There is a lack of data on insights of cardiologists in these countries regarding conducting and participating in clinical trials. We sought the views of cardiovascular healthcare professionals in Iraq on participation in clinical trials.
Cardiovascular professionals in Iraq were identified and contacted, via special platforms on social media specified for them, to answer a 30-item online survey.
We surveyed n = 255specialists (20% were women); interventional cardiologists constituted 44.7%, followed by cardiology trainees at 31%. Almost 30% reported having been involved in clinical trials, with data collection being the more frequently reported role (21.2%). Prior participation was not significantly associated with respondent gender, academic affiliation, or presence of institutional ethical committee. Of the total, 95.7% thought that clinical trials should be conducted in Iraq, with 58.8% reporting that they would participate if invited. The most common barriers to respondents' participation in trials were lack of electronic health records (52.2% of those surveyed) and time (51.4%), followed by the requirement of additional follow-up visits or investigations (34.1%). The most common motivators were establishing electronic health records (86.27%), education and training of the general population about clinical trials (84.7%), and dedicated training for healthcare providers about clinical trial basics (84.3%).
Our work helps pave the path to implementing a robust clinical trial ecosystem in Iraq. Institutional and financial factors and a lack of dedicated research time are related to the cardiovascular clinical trial lag in Iraq. Future qualitative research can help in getting a deeper understanding of what is needed to create the right infrastructure.
中低收入国家承担着全球最高的心血管疾病负担，但这些国家在心血管临床试验中的代表性不足。这限制了试验结果在这些国家的普遍适用性。目前缺乏关于这些国家心脏病专家对开展和参与临床试验的见解的数据。我们征求了伊拉克心血管医疗专业人员对参与临床试验的看法。
通过专门为伊拉克心血管专业人员设立的社交媒体平台，识别并联系他们，让他们回答一项包含30个项目的在线调查。
我们调查了n = 255名专家（20%为女性）；介入心脏病专家占44.7%，其次是心脏病学实习生，占31%。近30%的人报告曾参与临床试验，数据收集是报告频率较高的角色（21.2%）。之前的参与情况与受访者性别、学术背景或机构伦理委员会的存在与否无显著关联。总体而言，95.7%的人认为应该在伊拉克开展临床试验，58.8%的人表示如果受到邀请会参与。受访者参与试验的最常见障碍是缺乏电子健康记录（占受访者的52.2%）和时间（51.4%），其次是需要额外的随访或检查（34.1%）。最常见的动机是建立电子健康记录（86.27%）、对普通民众进行临床试验教育和培训（84.7%）以及为医疗服务提供者提供关于临床试验基础知识的专门培训（84.3%）。
我们的工作有助于为在伊拉克建立一个强大的临床试验生态系统铺平道路。机构和财务因素以及缺乏专门的研究时间与伊拉克心血管临床试验的滞后有关。未来的定性研究有助于更深入地了解建立合适基础设施所需的条件。
