The very low number of women and individuals from ethnic minorities in the cardiac electrophysiology (EP) speciality in the United States has been highlighted in two new studies.
The first study showed that only 5% of EP operators of Medicare procedures are women, and this number has not increased over the past several years.
The second study found a very low rate of applications for EP training programs from female and ethnic minority cardiology fellows.
"Women remain underrepresented in EP," lead author of the first study, Stacey Howell, MD, University of California San Francisco, told theheart.org | Medscape Cardiology. "Even in areas of major clinical growth, like atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation, the numbers of women are not increasing."
Both groups stress that more needs to be done to attract women and ethnic minorities into the EP field.
"It is important to have diversity in all specialities. It has been shown that women have poorer outcomes from some procedures including AF ablation and also poorer access," Usha Tedrow, MD, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston, senior author of the second study, commented.
"Female and underrepresented minority cardiologists are more likely to deliver equitable treatment and decision-making for patients," Tedrow added. "Some women and ethnic minority patients prefer to have conversations on whether to have a procedure or have a defibrillator fitted with a doctor who shares their background."
