The British Society of Echocardiography (BSE) was proud to be asked to contribute to the consensus document published by the British Cardiovascular Society last week.
Strategies to enhance recruitment of female participants to cardiovascular research: a joint British Cardiovascular Societies’ consensus document in collaboration with the British Heart Foundation Clinical Research Collaborative evaluates the barriers to research participation of female participants across the cardiovascular disease spectrum and describes specific strategies/actionable points to enhance female involvement in clinical cardiovascular research. It is hoped that this document will stimulate a multifaceted approach to address disparities, including raising awareness and undertaking sex/gender-based research.
Dr Vijay Kunadian, lead author, said, “Cardiovascular disease remains the UK's number 1 killer for female patients, yet the representation of females in clinical research is ~30%. There are several barriers for female participation in research. We wanted to address this collectively by working together with all 22 affiliated British cardiovascular societies to provide several recommendations on how to enhance female representation in research. We hope this will lead to better female representation and overall improved health and wellbeing of female patients with cardiovascular disease.”
The statement was also contributed to by the British Cardiovascular Society, British Heart Foundation Clinical Research Collaborative, British Society of Heart Failure, British Society of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance, Primary Care Cardiovascular Society, British and Irish Hypertension Society, Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery, British Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation, British Society for Cardiovascular Imaging/British Society of Cardiovascular CT, British Cardio-Oncology Society, British Junior Cardiologists, British Atherosclerosis Society, British Congenital Cardiac Association, British Inherited Cardiac Conditions Society, British Association for Nursing in Cardiovascular Care, British Heart Rhythm Society, British Cardiovascular Intervention Society, Society for Cardiac Science and Technology, UK Maternal Cardiovascular Society, British Heart Valve Society and Cardiovascular Care Partnership UK.
Read the statement