Sex Representation Among Principal Investigators in Cardiac Surgery Clinical Trials in the United States: The Glass Ceiling and Room for Improvement.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to determine the sex representation among principal investigators (PIs) in US cardiac surgery clinical trials.

SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA

Being a principal investigator in a US clinical trial confers national recognition among peers. Sex representation among principal investigators (PIs) in US cardiac surgery clinical trials has not been evaluated.

METHODS

We evaluated 124 US cardiac surgery trials registered on Clin-icalTrials.gov from 2014 to 2019. Sixty trials included PIs (n = 266) from 128 institutions that had a combined total of 1040 adult cardiac surgeons. We examined sex representation among junior-level (instructor or assistant professor) and senior-level (associate, full, or Emeritus professor) PIs by calculating the participation-to-prevalence ratio (PPR), whereby a PPR range of 0.8 to 1.2 reflects equitable representation.

RESULTS

The pool representation percentage was 6.1% (63/1040) for women and 93.9% (977/1040) for men. A total of 266 PI positions were assigned to adult cardiac surgeons: 6 (9.5%; PPR = 0.37) from the female pool and 260 (26.6%; PPR = 1.04) from the male pool ( P = 0.004). The percentage of PIs with studies funded by industry was 9.5% ofthe female pool (PPR = 0.39) and 25.0% of the male pool (PPR = 1.04) ( P = 0.009). No National Institutes of Health-funded or other funded trials had female PIs. An overall trend was observed toward disproportionally more men than women among PIs, especially at the senior level ( P = 0.027).

CONCLUSIONS

Equitable opportunities for PI positions are available for junior-level but not senior-level cardiothoracic surgeons. These results suggest a need for active engagement and promotion of equal opportunities in cardiac surgery.