The concerning disaggregation of gender disparity and racial disparity investigation at recent ASCO annual meetings.

Abstract

164 Background: There has been a recent emphasis in the peer-reviewed oncology literature on examining disparities by gender. Such emphasis provides an excellent opportunity to provide parallel disparities analysis. The degree to which gender disparities research has been performed concomitantly with racial disparities research at prominent oncologic societies has yet to be investigated. Methods: Abstracts presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting, the largest worldwide clinical oncology conference, were reviewed. Highly-valued abstracts selected for the elite oral abstract or clinical science symposium sessions at the 2020, 2021, and 2022 annual meetings were stratified to determine the amount of gender disparities research presented. Such research was then further assessed to determine whether racial disparities were examined simultaneously. Results: From 2020-2022, a total of 1,217 abstracts were presented at the ASCO annual meetings oral abstract or clinical science symposium sessions. Of these, seven involved gender disparities examination, of which only two (29%) concomitantly examined race. No study since 2020 concomitantly examined gender and racial disparities. Conclusions: More than 70% of elite gender disparities work presented at ASCO has been disaggregated from concomitant racial disparities examination, with complete disaggregation since 2021. Gender disparities work remains a miniscule aspect of the overall elite research landscape. Future work in examining gender disparities may be best aggregated with racial disparities in order to optimize timely solutions in both areas; such work could potentially be incentivized by stipulations of future funding mechanisms.