National Trends of Gender Disparity in Canadian Cardiovascular Society Guideline Authors, 2001-2020

Background: The level of representation of women in cardiology remains low compared to that of men, particularly in leadership positions. We evaluated gender disparity in the authorship of Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) guidelines. Methods: All CCS guidelines from 2001-2020 were identified. Gender was assessed based on pronoun use in the biographies and social media of the authors. Only primary panel authors were included in our analysis. Stratified analyses were performed based on subspecialties. Results: A total of 76 guidelines were identified, with 1172 authors (26% women, 74% men, P < 0.0001), with no significant change in percentage of women authors over 2 decades, (37.1% in 2001, 36.3% in 2020, P = 0.34). Inclusion of women as authors occurred less frequently than inclusion of men in general cardiology guidelines (20.1% vs 79.9%, P < 0.0001) and all subspecialties—heart failure (36.4% vs 63.6%, P < 0.0001), interventional cardiology (12.6% vs 87.4%, P < 0.0001), electrophysiology (20.2% vs 79.8%, P < 0.0001), and pediatric cardiology (41.7% vs 58.3%, P = 0.02). It was less likely for women to be a chair or cochair of a guideline writing committee, compared with men (20.1% vs 79.8%, P < 0.0001). There were 609 unique authors (25.6% women, 74.4% men, P < 0.0001), 542 unique medical doctorate (MD) authors (20.7% women, 79.3% men, P < 0.0001), and 67 unique non-MD authors (65.7% women, 34.3% men, P = 0.0003). Conclusions: There is a persistent shortfall in the inclusion of women authors for CCS guidelines, which has not changed over time. Further efforts are required to promote women's inclusion in leadership roles, which may lead to authorship of the guidelines. Résumé: Introduction: La représentation des femmes en cardiologie demeure faible par rapport à celle des hommes, particulièrement dans les positions de leadership. Nous avons évalué la disparité entre les sexes de la paternité des lignes directrices de la Société canadienne de cardiologie (SCC). Méthodes: Nous avons relevé toutes les lignes directrices de la SCC de 2001 à 2020. Nous avons déterminé le sexe en fonction de l'utilisation du pronom dans les biographies et les médias sociaux des auteurs. Seuls les auteurs du panel principal ont été ajoutés à notre analyse. Nous avons réalisé les analyses stratifiées en fonction des sous-spécialités. Résultats: Nous avons relevé un total de 76 lignes directrices, qui regroupaient 1 172 auteurs (26 % de femmes, 74 % d'hommes, P