Abstract 15473: Representation of Women Authors in Contemporary Heart Failure Clinical Trials

Introduction:Despite the important role of women in cardiovascular medicine, the disparity in women authors in heart failure (HF) clinical trials has not been addressed. We investigated the extent to which women lead publications in contemporary HF trials.Methods:We identified HF clinical trials (n=118) published between January 2001 and December 2016 using PubMed and ClinicalTrials.gov query. We determined the sex of the first, senior, and remaining authors by reviewing the first name, institutional websites and social media accounts.Results:HF clinical trials were cumulatively authored by 1488 authors (median 11, inter-quartile range (IQR), 8-15 per trial). The total number of authors increased from 9 (IQR 7-12) authors in 2001-2004 to 13 (IQR11-17) authors in 2013-2016 (P<0.001). The proportion of women authors per trial was 11% (IQR 4-20%) and remained stably low over time: 12% (IQR 0-20%) in 2001-2004 to 9% (IQR 0-20%) in 2013-2016 (P>0.50). First (90%) and senior (92%) authors were predominantly men with only 16% of publications having a woman as first or senior author, without significant change over time (P=0.60). Publications of trials conducted in North America had the highest likelihood of having a woman as first or senior author (24%) compared with multiregional (9%) and Western Europe (17%). Trials with a woman as first or senior author was associated with higher proportion of women enrolled (39% vs 26%, P=0.01). Trials authored by larger proportion of women tended to enroll higher proportions of women (R=0.39, P<0.001), Figure. The proportion of women authors was an independent predictor of women enrollment in multivariable model (P<0.0001).Conclusions:One in ten HF trial authors is a woman, and few women are first or senior authors of pivotal publications. Higher number of women authors is associated with higher enrollment of women in trials. Barriers to authorship and representation of women on HF trial leadership need to be addressed.