Key result
Between 2013 and 2019, only 5% of US electrophysiology operators were women, a proportion that remained stagnant over time despite a 137% increase in total atrial fibrillation ablationists.
Why the study?
Cardiac electrophysiology has few women physicians, prompting an evaluation of temporal and geographical trends in the proportion of women EP operators in the United States.
Observational (n=3,524)
Yes
Women remain significantly underrepresented as electrophysiology operators in the US, with stagnant proportions over a 7-year period despite overall clinical growth in the field.
Persistent underrepresentation of women among EP operators warrants attention to diversity barriers; leaves open targeted interventions to improve gender balance.
BACKGROUND: Cardiac electrophysiology (EP) has few women physicians. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine temporal and geographical trends in the proportion of women EP operators in the United States. METHODS: We extracted data from the Medicare Provider Utilization and Payment Database from 2013 to 2019 using procedure codes for atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation, supraventricular tachycardia/atrial flutter (SVT/AFL) ablation, and cardiac device implantation. The Medicare Provider Utilization and Payment Database excludes operators who perform ≤10 procedures annually for a given individual procedure code. The proportion of women operators was compared across the 7-year period. RESULTS: On average annually between 2013 and 2019, 5% (n = 187) of the 3524 EP operators were women. Procedure-specific analyses demonstrated a similarly low proportion of women EP operators across each procedure type. Despite a 137% increase in the total number of AF ablationists over the 7-year period, the proportion of women remained unchanged (P = .3966). The number of SVT/AFL ablationists and device operators remained constant over time as did the proportion of women operators (P = .9709 and .3583, respectively). In 2019, 10 states (20%) had no women EP operators who performed >10 of any given EP procedure annually, 20 states (39%) had no women who performed >10 of either AF or SVT/AFL ablation procedures annually, and 10 states (20%) had no women device operators who performed >10 of any given type of device implantation annually. CONCLUSION: Women EP operators remain underrepresented, and the proportion of women is stagnant even in areas of major clinical growth such as AF ablation. One-fifth of states had no women operators who performed >10 of any given EP procedure annually.
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Howell et al. (2022) conducted an observational in Cardiac electrophysiology operators (n=3,524). Temporal and geographical trends (2013-2019) was evaluated on Proportion of women EP operators. Between 2013 and 2019, only 5% of US electrophysiology operators were women, a proportion that remained stagnant over time despite a 137% increase in total atrial fibrillation ablationists.
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