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A new scientific statement from the American Heart Association (AHA) addresses barriers to entry and retention of women in interventional vascular fields, including interventional cardiology, interventional radiology, and vascular surgery, and proposes potential solutions. 

"In my view, this statement is critical. While we are seeing trends toward increased women representation in many specialties of medicine, vascular interventional subspecialties are lagging behind," Mimmie Kwong, MD, writing group chair, told theheart.org | Medscape Cardiology.

"Time and time again, we have seen studies that show that increasing the diversity of a field, gender being one form of diversity, can improve the productivity, growth, and development of that field. In the case of medicine, recent studies suggest that the rise of female doctors may even directly improve patient outcomes," said Kwong, with University of California, Davis. 

The statement was published online on February 20, 2024, in Circulation. 

Shorten Length of Training?

Women remain the minority of active physicians in interventional cardiology (5%), interventional radiology (10%), and vascular surgery (15%). And with women now making up half of all medical school graduates, encouraging parity of women in these fields needs to start in medical school, the writing group said. 

Barriers to women pursuing careers in vascular intervention include insufficient exposure during core clerkships and early mentorship, low visibility of women in the field, length of training, lifestyle considerations, work culture and environment, and concerns about radiation exposure. 

In terms of length of training, the writing group notes that the adoption of condensed integrated training pathways for both interventional radiology and vascular surgery have led to substantial increases in the proportion of female applicants and trainees in these fields. 

"The good news is that simply decreasing and focusing length of training, as has been done in vascular surgery and interventional radiology, really has started to level the playing field for women interested in these career pathways," S. Elissa Altin, MD, vice chair of the writing group, with Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, told theheart.org | Medscape Cardiology. 

Interventional cardiology "remains the outlier, with a long length of training that may dissuade both women and men from further sub specialization in vascular intervention," Altin noted. The writing group said interventional cardiology should consider revising the traditional training paradigm. 

As strategies to engage more women in interventional vascular specialties succeed, "attention needs to be focused on how to move talented women to top leadership positions, which will ultimately continue to encourage junior women to pursue the field," the writing group said. 

"My hope is that this statement is not only informative, but also practical and inspirational. We strove to both identify the multiple factors that contribute to poor representation of women within the interventional vascular subspecialties and also lay the groundwork for how to address these issues," Kwong told theheart.org | Medscape Cardiology. 

"We appreciate the incredible support of the AHA in publishing this statement, as it sends a strong message on how this is an important priority for the major organizations and governing societies that help drive the changes needed to increase the number of women vascular interventional specialists," Kwong said. 

"Workplaces both within and without medicine do better with diverse perspectives and voices," Altin said. "Enhancing diversity at all levels should not be considered a performative check box, but rather acknowledged to be proven to improve patient care, physician satisfaction, and health care system financial success."

This research had no commercial funding. The authors had no relevant disclosures.