Abstract WP86: Gender Disparities In Authorship Of Major Randomized Controlled Trials In Stroke Research

Introduction: Many medical specialties including vascular neurology have recently raised awareness of gender disparities among researchers. This study seeks to investigate patterns and yearly trends in authorship of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in stroke research. Methods: This study included RCTs from the 2019 AHA/ASA Guidelines for the Early Management of Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke. Studies that did not distinguish primary authors for publication and rather credited a collaborative group were excluded. Gender was determined for each author based on analysis of names with assistance of online references (institution directories, biographies, news articles, profile photos and professional social media platforms). Validated software (Genderize.io) was used to corroborate gender based on first names with a probability threshold of 60% as implemented in previous work. Chi-squared tests for observed frequencies and linear trend were performed. Differences were considered significant at p<0.05. Results: One hundred eighty-six RCTs were included with a total 2451 authors (78% male, 22% female) covering 46 stroke topics. Publication dates were 1994 to 2019 (median 2014, IQR 2010-2016). Number of authors for each study ranged from 1 to 56, with a mean±SD of 13±10 authors. Of the 186 included studies, 145 (78%) had male first authors and 41 (22%) had female first authors (p<0.0001). One hundred fifty-nine (85%) studies had male senior authors and 27 (15%) had female senior authors (p<0.0001). Distribution of authorship by country revealed higher prevalence of male first and senior authors for all countries except the Netherlands (n=5 RCTs), Sweden (n=1) and India (n=1). Yearly trends in authorship distribution from 1994 to 2019 did not identify any significant shift in authorship for first or senior authors based on gender (p>0.05). Conclusions: This study reveals that gender disparities are prevalent across the field of stroke research. Female authors are underrepresented in both roles of first and senior authors in major RCTs. This discrepancy is present across nearly all countries and has persisted over the past three decades. Continued research and targeted interventions are needed to alleviate gender disparities in stroke research.