AIDS Conspiracy Theory, Race/ethnicity and Participation in Biomedical Research

The need to include racial and ethnic minorities in biomedical research studies requires identification of obstacles that would block the achievement of this goal, and is critical for reducing health disparities in the U.S. Some investigations have reported that racial and ethnic minorities are more likely than Whites to report belief in AIDS/HIV “conspiracy theories.” Purpose: 1) To examine whether the “conspiracy theory” that AIDS/HIV “is the result of government plan to intentionally kill a certain group of people ” varies by race/ethnicity, and 2) to determine if this belief is related to likelihood of, and fear of, participation in biomedical research studies. Methods: The Tuskegee Legacy Project (TLP) Questionnaire was administered via a telephone interview to 353 adult Blacks, 157 Hispanics and 623 Whites in four areas (Birmingham, AL; Tuskegee, AL; Hartford, CT; San Antonio, TX). Results: Blacks and Hispanics were more likely than Whites to report that it was “very” or “somewhat likely” that AIDS/HIV “was the result of a government plan to intentionally kill a certain group of people” (Blacks 27.8% vs. Hispanics 23.6% vs. Whites 8.0%; Chi-square=71.4, df=2, p 0.001). The racial/ethnic differences persisted when controlling for demographic differences between groups, with Blacks more than three times and Hispanics more than twice as likely as Whites to report such beliefs (ORadj Blacks 3.2, 95%CI 2.3, 4.4 and ORadj Hispanics 2.5, 95%CI 1.6, 3.8). We found that this belief was a weak, although significant, independent predictor of 1) likelihood of participation for Whites only, and 2) fear of participation in Hispanics only. Conclusions: Blacks and Hispanics, compared to Whites, were more likely to report a belief that AIDS/HIV was likely “the result of an intentional government plan to kill a certain group of people,” and having such a belief was related to likelihood of participation in Whites only, and to fear of participation in Hispanics only. Supported by NIDCR grants: P50 DE10592, U54 DE014257, T32 DE007255.