Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33418021›Full record

ArticleClinical microbiology and infection : the official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases2021

Gender disparities in coronavirus disease 2019 clinical trial leadership.

Muge Cevik, Syed Arefinul Haque, Jennifer Manne-Goehler, Krutika Kuppalli, Paul E Sax, Maimuna S Majumder, Chloe Orkin

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Clinical microbiology and infection : the official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
19citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

19 citing papers in PubMed.

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  15. Observational
  16. Future developments in training.Clinical microbiology and infection : the official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases · 2021
    Review
  17. Article
  18. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic puts the spotlight on gender inequality in clinical research.Clinical microbiology and infection : the official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases · 2021
    Article
  19. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Muge CevikDivision of Infection and Global Health Research, School of Medicine, University of St Andrews, UK; NHS Lothian Infection Service, Regional Infectious Diseases Unit, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, UK. Electronic address: mc349@st-andrews.ac.uk.
Syed Arefinul HaqueNetwork Science Institute, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.
Jennifer Manne-GoehlerDivision of Infectious Diseases, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Krutika KuppalliDivision of Infectious Diseases, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA.
Paul E SaxDivision of Infectious Diseases, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Maimuna S MajumderBoston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Chloe OrkinBlizzard Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK; Royal London Hospital, Barts Health NHS Trust, London, UK.

Funding

RESEARCH TRAINING IN PEDIATRIC EMERGENCY MEDICINET32HD040128 · NICHD · CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL BOSTON · PI Kenneth D. Mandl · 2001 to 2026
$5.0M
NICHD NIH HHS T32 HD040128
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesTo compare the gender distribution of clinical trial leadership in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) clinical trials.

methodsWe searched https://clinicaltrials.gov/ and retrieved all clinical trials on COVID-19 from 1 January 2020 to 26 June 2020. As a comparator group, we have chosen two fields that are not related to emerging infections and infectious diseases: and considered not directly affected by the pandemic: breast cancer and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and included studies within the aforementioned study period as well as those registered in the preceding year (pre-study period: 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019). Gender of the investigator was predicted using the genderize.io application programming interface. The repository of the data sets used to collect and analyse the data are available at https://osf.io/k2r57/.

resultsOnly 27.8% (430/1548) of principal investigators among COVID-19-related studies were women, which is significantly different compared with 54.9% (156/284) and 42.1% (56/133) for breast cancer (p < 0.005) and T2DM (p < 0.005) trials over the same period, respectively. During the pre-study period, the proportion of principal investigators who were predicted to be women were 49.7% (245/493) and 44.4% (148/333) for breast cancer and T2DM trials, respectively, and the difference was not statistically significant when compared with results from the study period (p > 0.05).

conclusionWe demonstrate that less than one-third of COVID-19-related clinical trials are led by women, half the proportion observed in non-COVID-19 trials over the same period, which remained similar to the pre-study period. These gender disparities during the pandemic may not only indicate a lack of female leadership in international clinical trials and involvement in new projects but also reveal imbalances in women's access to research activities and funding during health emergencies.

Indexed as

COVID-19LeadershipWomenBreast NeoplasmsClinical Trials as TopicDiabetes Mellitus, Type 2FemaleHumansMaleResearch PersonnelSexismSex RatioCoronavirusCoronavirus disease 2019GenderNovel coronavirusPandemicSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2

Identifiers

PMID33418021
PMCPMC7785275

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.