Women's leadership in clinical research: A retrospective observational study over two decades in Spain

Abstract

Background and objective: Available data support differences by gender in the leadership of clinical investigations (CI). This study analyzes to what extent women lead these investigations.

Materials and methods: Observational-retrospective study in a tertiary university hospital associated with one of the most important health research institutes in Spain. We analyzed the principal investigators (PI) by gender from 2001 to 2020.

Main outcome: proportion of CI led by female doctors (FD) during the study period.

Secondary outcomes: differences in PI by gender according to the type of study: clinical trials (CT) or non-interventional-researches (NIR) and according to type of funding.

Data sources: Research Ethics Committee (REC) and Human Resources Department registries.

Results: During the study, the REC approved 8466 protocols, 52% (4408/8466) were EC, the rest were NIR. Women led 39.7% (3360/8466) of the total. The gender gap was observed mainly in EC: FD were IP of 31.5% of them (1391/4408) and 48.5% (1969/4058) of NIR. This despite the increasing trend in the number of FD staff. By type of funding, when the studies were supported by private sector there was a wider gap markedly unfavorable for women.

Conclusions: Our results show that there is underrepresentation of women in research leadership, mainly those with private financing. This study reinforces the idea that there is still a long way to go in this field. More studies are necessary to identify the existing differences that allow the implementation of actions at the institutional and cultural level that promote gender equality in the field of clinical research.

Keywords: Clinical research; Desigualdad de género; Gender inequality; Investigación clínica; Investigador principal; Principal investigator.