PICANT - Representation of patients with a migration background

Research has indicated that persons with a migration background are more likely to be underrepresented in medical research trials and to receive low-quality care. Little is known about whether patients with a migration background are also underrepresented in primary care studies on oral antithrombotic treatment (OAT) in Germany, and whether the quality of their antithrombotic care differs from patients without a migration background. The aim of this paper was to use the results of a cluster-randomized controlled trial (PICANT) to determine the proportion of people with a migration background at different stages of recruitment, and to compare the results in terms of sociodemographic characteristics and antithrombotic treatment. This study used screening and baseline data from the PICANT trial on oral anticoagulation management in GP practices. For this analysis, we determined the proportion of patients with a migration background during the recruitment period at stage 1 (screening of potentially eligible patients), stage 2 (eligible patients invited to participate in the trial), and stage 3 (assessment of baseline characteristics of patients participating in the PICANT trial). In addition, we compared patients in terms of sociodemographic characteristics and quality of anticoagulant treatment. Statistical analysis comprised descriptive and bivariate analyses. The proportion of patients with a migration background was lower at each recruitment stage (9.1% at stage 1; 7.9% at stage 2; 7.3% at stage 3). At stages 1 and 3, patients with a migration background were younger (stage 1: 70.7 vs. 75.0 years, p