Gender/sex differences: Representation of women in lateral ankle sprain research.

Abstract

Background: Women have historically comprised lower percentages of sports science research participants compared to men. Lateral ankle sprains (LAS) are a common musculoskeletal injury that may affect women more than men.

Objective: The primary purpose was to assess the representation of women participants in LAS research. The secondary purpose was to analyze the representation of women as authors in this same work.

Design: Observational study.

Setting: Systematic reviews on LAS in adults published between May 2013 and April 2023.

Participants: Eleven systematic reviews on LAS with 77 unique original research studies (10, 080 participants, 335 authors) met inclusion criteria.

Interventions: Not applicable.

Main outcome measures: The main outcomes were the proportion of women as participants and in author roles (primary, senior, and overall).

Results: Women were underrepresented as participants (41%, n = 4150). Women were also the minority gender/sex for authors overall (26%, n = 86) as well as primary (32%, n = 23) and senior (29%, n = 19) authors. No clear increase in the inclusion of women as research participants was observed over time (p = .4), nor was there a significant increase in women authors (p = .1). A greater proportion of participants were women when the primary author was a woman (p = .008).

Conclusion: Women are underrepresented in LAS research overall, and there is a lack of clear progress in representation over time. Similarly, women are a minority of study authors and data suggest a possible temporal trend of improvement. Efforts should be made to increase the proportion of women included in LAS research in order to support equitable evidence-based care.