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Author Diversity on Clinical Practice Guideline Committees
Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez1, Nicole B Katz, Talya K Fleming
1From the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas (MV-G); Department of Internal Medicine, Mount Auburn Hospital, Cambridge, Massachusetts (NBK); JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute at Hackensack Meridian Health, Edison, New Jersey (TKF); Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, New Jersey (TKF); Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, Nutley, New Jersey (TKF); Department of Psychology, Integrative Neuroscience, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois (EMS); Department of Internal Medicine, Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center, Oakland, California (TLH); Joslin Diabetes Center, Boston, Massachusetts (NES); Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts (NES); Department of Rehabilitation and Human Performance, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York (MXE); Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (GRL); Department of Anesthesia and Pain Management, Toronto Western Hospital-University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (GRL); The Wilson Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (GRL); Women's College Research Institute, Women's College Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (GRL); Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts (JKS); Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts (JKS); Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts (JKS); and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts (JKS).
Abstract:
Reports have demonstrated that women overall and women physicians, in particular, are underrepresented as authors of clinical practice guidelines. This analysis used publicly available information to explore the diversity of rehabilitation-related clinical practice guideline authors by gender, race, and ethnicity. Primary analysis identified authors' gender, race, ethnicity, and visible minority status. Two sets were analyzed: (1) clinical practice guidelines by Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) categorized as "Rehabilitation" or "Pain" (n = 7; VA clinical practice guidelines) and (2) a set (n = 10) published in the United States (US) from 2019 to 2021 that were selected because of low numbers of inclusion at less than 20% women authors. Key findings include that among physician authors, both the VA and US clinical practice guidelines underrepresented women (15 [24.2%] and 27 [16.7%], respectively) and those coded as a racial or ethnic minority were particularly underrepresented. Notably, women authors overall were equally represented (92 [50.0%]) in the VA clinical practice guidelines. The US clinical practice guidelines had women authors who were underrepresented (36 [19.0%]). Secondary analysis of the entire set of VA clinical practice guidelines (n = 21) found gaps in diversity-related content. Clinical practice guidelines have far-reaching health and economic impacts, and addressing disparities in the diversity of author teams and/or gaps in diversity-related content is of paramount importance.
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