Sex Disparity Among Canadian Cardiologists in Academic Medicine: Differences in Scholarly Productivity and Academic Rank

Background Women remain relatively underrepresented in all subspecialties of academic medicine. While sex disparity is prevalent in a number of specialties, the association between academic productivity and sex in academic cardiology has not been assessed in the Canadian context. Methods Academic faculty of accredited Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS) programs were included from cardiology division websites across 17 universities. Cardiology faculty members’ names, academic ranks, leadership positions, and sex were obtained from each institutions’ website. The Elsevier database Scopus© was used to extract the Hirsch index (H-index), years of active research, and number of publications of each faculty member. The H-index was used as a metric of academic output and research productivity. Univariate regression was run with the H-Index as the outcome of interest, and multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine factors associated with higher H-index. Results Sex was identified for 1,040 members, of whom 836 (80%) were male. Male members had higher numbers of publications (p <0.001). There was a trend for males in a leadership position to have a higher H-index (p = 0.07). Median H-index was lower for women (p = 0.02). Males across assistant and associate professor ranks had a higher H-index. Women achieving professor rank demonstrated greater productivity with a higher median H-index (p = 0.002). Conclusions There is a prevalent sex gap in academic cardiology with regard to scholarly productivity and academic achievement. Factors that may help narrow the sex gap need to be identified and corrective measures implemented to enhance sex equity.