

Urban Legends in the World of Clinical Trials - DiabloD3
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/neuroskeptic/2015/01/24/urban-legends-clinical-trials/

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giarc
This likely hints to a bigger issue that people that participate in clinical
trials tend to participate in more than one (enough so that rumors can
circulate through these populations). Therefore, how representative of the
public are these trials if they attract a certain demographic?

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josephpmay
My sister worked on clinical trials in graduate school, and this is one of the
many systematic problems she experienced.

Other problems:

Many clinical trial participants are mentally ill, which effects following
instructions, reporting side effects, etc.

Many participants participate in multiple clinical trials, so effects/side
effects may be partially attributed to the other trials

Because the clinical trials often pay a non-trivial amount, people who are
poor and desperate will sometimes fake an illness to get into a trial

