Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Ann Surg. 2022 Dec 1;276(6):e1101-e1106. doi: 10.1097/SLA.0000000000004961. Epub 2021 Jun 2.
The aim of this study was to determine the sex representation among principal investigators (PIs) in US cardiac surgery clinical trials.
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.
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.
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).
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.
本研究旨在确定美国心脏外科学临床试验主要研究者（PI）中的性别代表性。
在美国进行临床试验的主要研究者（PI）可在同行中获得全国认可。美国心脏外科学临床试验中主要研究者（PI）的性别代表性尚未得到评估。
我们评估了 2014 年至 2019 年在 ClinicalTrials.gov 上注册的 124 项美国心脏外科学试验。其中 60 项试验纳入了来自 128 个机构的 266 名 PI（n=266），这些机构共有 1040 名成人心脏外科医生。我们通过计算参与率与流行率之比（PPR），评估初级（讲师或助理教授）和高级（副教授、教授或名誉教授）PI 中的性别代表性，其中 PPR 范围为 0.8 至 1.2 反映公平代表。
女性的池代表百分比为 6.1%（63/1040），男性为 93.9%（977/1040）。共有 266 个 PI 职位分配给成人心脏外科医生：女性池中有 6 个（9.5%；PPR=0.37），男性池中有 260 个（26.6%；PPR=1.04）（P=0.004）。女性池中有 9.5%（PPR=0.39）的 PI 所进行的研究由工业界资助，男性池中有 25.0%（PPR=1.04）（P=0.009）。没有 NIH 资助或其他资助的试验有女性 PI。在 PI 中，特别是在高级别（P=0.027），观察到男性比例明显高于女性的总体趋势。
初级心脏血管外科医生有公平获得 PI 职位的机会，但高级心脏血管外科医生没有。这些结果表明，需要积极参与并促进心脏外科学中的平等机会。
