In a study published in JAMA Surgery, Melina Kibbe, MD, Zach D. Owens Professor and Chair, Department of Surgery, and colleagues found that few human surgical clinical research studies included men and women equally.
The researchers studied more than 1,300 peer reviewed articles and found that few studies included men and women in equal numbers, less than one third performed data analysis by sex, and a wide variation was present in inclusion and matching of the sexes among the various surgical specialties and journals reviewed.
Kibbe says she hopes these results will raise awareness of sex bias among patients, physicians, scientists, and policymakers, and lead to the development of guidelines to ensure both sexes are studied equally and research results include discussion and analysis of any differences that exist between men and women.