ClinicalTrials.gov National Library of Medicine / National Institutes of Health

ClinicalTrials.gov is a consumer health informatics application that was developed by the Lister Hill Center in response to legislation requiring the NIH to create a database of clinical trials information. Increasingly, people are turning to the Internet to look for answers to their health questions. This raises a number of research questions, including the type of content that should be created and how that content can be put into the appropriate medical context. The structure of the ClinicalTrials.gov application was designed to address these issues.

Each record in ClinicalTrials.gov includes summaries of the purpose of the clinical research study, together with the recruiting status, the criteria for patient participation in the trial, the location of the trial, and specific contact information. Other information that may help a patient decide whether to enroll in a particular trial includes the research study design, the phase of the trial, the disease or condition, and the particular drug or therapy under study. An important feature of ClinicalTrials.gov is that it provides links to other online health resources such as MEDLINEplus that help place clinical trials in the context of a patient's overall medical care.

Click here for additional information about ClinicalTrials.gov.

Publications:

McCray AT. Better Access to Information about Clinical Trials. Ann Intern Med. 2000 Oct 17;133(8):609-614.

McCray AT, Ide NC. Design and Implementation of a National Clinical Trials Registry. J Amer Med Info Assoc 2000; 7(3):313-23.

McCray AT A National Resource for Information on Clinical Trials. National Forum: The Phi Kappa Phi Journal. 1999 Summer; 79(3):19-21.

Press Release - February 29, 2000