Women participants in research: assessing progress.

ABSTRACT

This study reviewed 1,050 articles published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the American Journal of Psychiatry, and the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology in 1982 and 1991/92. The NEJM included the fewest female subjects at both assessments (26.6% in 1982 and 36.5% in 1991/92), and one way analysis of variance showed a significantly smaller percentage of women in the NEJM compared to either the AJP or the JCCP (F = (2,1048) = 11.5, p < .001) in 1991/92. The NEJM did increase the percentage of women participants over the decade (t(534) = 3.0, p = .001), but there was no increase in the proportion of its studies including women. Attempts to encourage the inclusion of women in health-related research have been only modestly successful. Medical research, in particular, continues to underrepresent women in its published studies.