The Sustainable Health Index, developed by the Nova Information Management School (Nova IMS), collected this year for the first time the opinion of the Portuguese about clinical trials, in which 28% said they would participate without hesitation and half responded that they would “maybe” participate.

“This also results from the fact that only 36% of people say they have a good knowledge of what clinical trials are. Naturally, this lack of knowledge also leads to some uncertainty”, Pedro Simões Coelho, coordinator of the study, explained to Lusa.

The expert points out that Portugal “is not a country that has historically had a great performance in terms of clinical trials” and, therefore, “there is a certain lack of knowledge”.

“What we see is a positive predisposition of the population, because, in fact, almost 80% [50.5% answered maybe], in principle, would be available to participate and the 28% who say yes, without hesitation, will be very willing to participate”, explained the person in charge.

The data collected indicates that health status is the factor that would most influence this decision.

Respondents also said that the internet (60.3%) would be the first source of information they would turn to to find out more about clinical trials.