E0625 - Sex, Race, and Geographic Disparities Are Prevalent Among Authors and Patients in Prospective Studies Published in Major U.S. Gastroenterology Journals Over the Past Decade

Connie Park, MD¹, Jade Marhaba, MD¹, Marta Arjonilla, MD², Nimra Hameed, BA³, Benjamin Musheyev, BA³, Noah Kim, BA³, Michelle Carfagno, BA³, Nicole Hershkowitz, BA³, Benjamin D. Renelus, MD⁴, Daniel S. Jamorabo, MD^2
1Stony Brook University Hospital, Stony Brook, NY; ²Stony Brook Medicine, Stony Brook, NY; ³Renaissance School of Medicine, Stony Brook, NY; ⁴Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA

Introduction: Our team investigated geographic and sex representation among authors in addition to sex and racial representation among patients in prospective cohort and randomized-controlled trials published in the major United States-based (US) gastroenterology and hepatology journals from 2010-2021.

Methods: Our librarians retrieved articles published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology (AJG), Gastroenterology, Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology (CGH), Hepatology, and Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (GIE) from 1/1/2010 through 12/31/2021 through PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. We randomly selected 2749 articles and excluded all retrospective studies, meta-analyses, cross-sectional studies, translational work, and case series. We then excluded 707 RCTs and PCs that were missing patient demographic data (e.g. sex, race, etc.). Categorical variables were compared using chi-square analysis while t-testing was used for numerical variables. All analysis was done using R.

Results: We analyzed 244 RCTs and PCs and found US and Canada-based institutions represented 192/244 of lead authors (78.7%, p< 0.01), while the South comprised 71/192 (38.6%, p=0.22) of the US-based authors. There were no papers from Africa or South America, and just 12 combined (4.9%) from East or South Asia, and North America apart from the US/Canada. Male lead authors (166/244; 68%) comprised the majority in both RCTs (2.8:1, p=0.03) and PCs (1.5:1, p=0.03), and in multi-center studies (3:1, P=0.02) and single center studies (1.3:1, p=0.02). Lead authorship was not significantly associated with journal editorial board membership.

There were 1,401,292 patients, including 885,255 women (63.2%) and 308,010 non-White (21.9%) patients. The mean number of female to male patients was equivalent in 3 of the 5 journals and just above 2:1 in the other two journals (AJG, Gastroenterology). The ratio of White patients was significantly higher than that of non-White patients across all 5 journals (4.7:1 in AJG, 3.9:1 in Gastroenterology, 3.1:1 in GIE, 2.2:1 in Hepatology, and 1.6:1 in CGH; p=0.04) for RCTs and PCs, whether single-center (2.5:1) or multi-center (5.4:1).

Discussion: There are geographic and sex-based disparities among lead authors, and race-based disparities among patients, particularly in multi-center studies and RCTs, which tend to be the most prestigious in clinical research. Further investigation and effort is needed to help address underrepresentation in these areas.




Disclosures:


Connie Park, MD¹, Jade Marhaba, MD¹, Marta Arjonilla, MD², Nimra Hameed, BA³, Benjamin Musheyev, BA³, Noah Kim, BA³, Michelle Carfagno, BA³, Nicole Hershkowitz, BA³, Benjamin D. Renelus, MD⁴, Daniel S. Jamorabo, MD². E0625 - Sex, Race, and Geographic Disparities Are Prevalent Among Authors and Patients in Prospective Studies Published in Major U.S. Gastroenterology Journals Over the Past Decade, ACG 2022 Annual Scientific Meeting Abstracts. Charlotte, NC: American College of Gastroenterology.