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Could a Patient's name or gender tip the ICU admission scale?

NCT ID NCT05513456

Knowledge-focused Sponsor: Karolinska Institutet Source: ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

What the study statuses mean

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Recruitment status, easiest to join first

Recruiting now This study
This trial is taking on new participants right now.
Not yet recruiting
Registered, but not yet taking participants.
By invitation only
Not open to general applications. Only people the study team invites can take part.
Paused
Paused for now. It may or may not start again.
Ongoing
Running, but no longer taking on new participants.
Completed
The trial has finished. Results may not be published yet.
Stopped early
Stopped early, before it reached the end. That can be for many reasons, including safety.
Cancelled
Cancelled before anyone took part.

Expanded access (not trials)

Expanded access
Not a trial. This treatment can be requested outside a study, case by case, for people who qualify.
Expanded access (paused)
Not a trial. The treatment can normally be requested outside a study, but is unavailable right now.
Expanded access (ended)
Not a trial. The treatment could once be requested outside a study, but no longer can.
Approved
The treatment has been approved, so it is available normally rather than through this programme.

When the status isn't known

Details not published
The full record has not been published yet, so there is little to show here.
Status unknown
This status has not been confirmed recently, so it may be out of date.

First seen Aug 20, 2026 · Last updated Aug 21, 2026 · Updated 1 time

Summary

This study asks whether intensive care doctors are unconsciously biased by a patient's gender or ethnicity when deciding to admit them to the ICU. Researchers will send out thousands of identical patient case descriptions, changing only the sex or a name that suggests a particular ethnic background, to see if admission decisions differ. The goal is to uncover any hidden bias in critical care triage.

What this could mean

Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.

Active substance
Randomized case descriptions with varied gender and ethnicity indicators
What this could lead to
If bias is found, it could lead to training and policy changes to make ICU admission decisions fairer.
What could go wrong
This is a survey study, not a clinical treatment trial, so it won't directly change patient care. Results may not reflect real-world decisions.

This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.

Study facts

What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.

Participants

About 5,000 people

The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.

Started

May 2024

Expected to finish

Dec 2026

An estimate. End dates often move.

Lead sponsor

Other sponsor

The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.

Who can take part

This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.

Who is studied

Intensive care physicians and other physicians working with admission (or non-admission) of critically ill patients across the world are eligible to participate in the study.

Ages

Children (under 18), adults (18 to 64) and older adults (65 and over)

Sex

Anyone

Healthy volunteers

Accepted

You do not need to have the condition being studied to take part.

Show the full entry requirements

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Inclusion Criteria: We will include intensive care physicians, both in training and specialists as responders in this randomized survey study Exclusion Criteria: We will exclude "button-mashers", i.e. participating respondents that toggle through the case descriptions faster than they possibly could read the case description. A case answered \<20 seconds will be ruled out.

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Conditions

The condition(s) this trial relates to.

Critical Illness Racism Sexism

As listed by the trial registrant

The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.

Critical illness Discrimination, racial Discrimination, sex Gender equality

How to take part

Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.

  1. The places running it

    1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.

  2. The official record

    ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.

    Open the record ↗

  3. A doctor treating you

    A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.

Contacts and locations

Locations

  • Karolinska Institutet

    RECRUITING

    Stockholm, Sweden

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