Importance: Clinical trial activity in Ukraine was seriously affected by the Russian invasion. However, data are lacking on how this conflict affects clinical trials.
Objective: To evaluate whether registered changes to trial information reflect war-related disturbances to trials in Ukraine.
Design, setting, and participants: This cross-sectional study included noncompleted trials conducted in Ukraine from February 24, 2022, to February 24, 2023. Trials conducted in Estonia and Slovakia were also analyzed for comparison. Study records within the ClinicalTrials.gov archive were accessed by using the change history feature in the tabular view for each record.
Exposure: Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Main outcomes and measures: The frequency of changes to the protocol and results registration parameters before and after the start of the war, February 24, 2022.
Results: A total of 888 ongoing trials conducted only in Ukraine (5.2%) or in multiple countries (94.8%), and enrolling a median of 348 participants were analyzed. Almost all sponsors for 775 industry-funded trials were non-Ukrainian (99.6%). On February 24, 2023, 267 trials (30.1%) were without any recorded update in the registry after the war. In 15 (1.7%) multisite trials, Ukraine was removed as a location country after mean (SD) of 9.4 (3.0) postwar months. The rates of changes in 20 parameters 1 year before and after the war started had a mean (SD) absolute difference of 3.0% (2.5%). Besides study status changes in each study record version, the contacts and locations field was the most frequently modified (56.1%), with a higher rate for multisite (58.2%) than in only Ukrainian (17.4%) trials. This finding was consistent for all analyzed registration parameters. In trials conducted solely in Ukraine, the median number of record versions was the year before (95% CI, 0-0) and after February 2022 (95% CI, 0-1), similar to registered trials from Estonia and Slovakia.
Conclusions and relevance: Results of this study suggest that war-related changes in trial conduct in Ukraine may not be completely visible in the largest public trial registry, which is expected to present accurate and timely information on clinical trials. These findings raise questions regarding the updating practices for registration information, which should be mandatory, especially in times of crises, to ensure the safety and the rights of trial participants in a war zone.