Trends in female representation in clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) among major cancer organizations.

Abstract

11006 Background: While women representation and sex disparities in National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) and European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) has been studied in a limited set of CPGs, the sex representation and disparity trend over time among all NCCN and ESMO CPG panelists has not been studied. Our study evaluates the current sex disparities and female representation for all NCCN and ESMO CPGs as of 2020 and compared it to the 2010 CPGs of both organizations. Methods: The 2010 and 2020 version of NCCN and ESMO CPGs were examined from their respective websites and archives. We catalogued the number of female versus male panelist for each CPG. We discerned the sex of the panelists based on google search and the panelists’ affiliated institutional websites. Results: 60 NCCN (2020), 51 NCCN (2010), 78 ESMO (2020) and 55 ESMO (2010) CPGs inclusive of all cancers by site, detection prevention and risk reduction, supportive care, and guidelines for specific population were reviewed. NCCN 2020 CPGs had 55.5% female representation. 35 (58%) NCCN CPGs had predominant female representation (>50% of the members being female) whereas 24 CPG (40%) were male predominant (>50% of the members being male). Solid tumors had 24 CPGs with male predominance and hematological malignancies had 14 CPGs with female predominance. Cancers specific to women had higher proportion of female panelist. NCCN 2010 CPGs had 27.1% female representation. Both solid tumors and hematological malignancies had male predominance (82% and 75% respectively). Breast cancer screening, palliative care and older adult oncology CPGs were female predominant. ESMO 2020 had 27.8% female representation. Both solid tumors (37 CPGs) and hematological malignancies (17 CPGs) had predominant male representation (72% and 85% respectively). Breast and ovarian cancer CPGs were female predominant. ESMO 2010 had 23.2% female representation. Male representation was predominant in both solid tumors (35 CPGs) and hematological malignancies (9 CPGs). Breast, cervical and ovarian cancer CPGs were female predominant. Conclusions: Over the last decade, proportion of female panelists in NCCN CPGs has doubled with more than 50% representation among its 60 CPGs, indicating adequate representation of women. In ESMO, although there has been a significant improvement in female representation in hematological malignancies over time, it continues to have overall female underrepresentation (<30%).[Table: see text]