CC2023: Inequalities in the Evaluation of Male Versus Female Athletes in Sports Medicine Research: A Systematic Review (October 2023)-Inequalities in the Evaluation of Male Versus Female Athletes in Sports Medicine Research: A Systematic Review

Inequalities in the Evaluation of Male Versus Female Athletes in Sports Medicine Research: A Systematic Review

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A systematic review of sports medicine research published between 2017 and 2021 in six top sports medicine journals found inequalities in the evaluation of male versus female athletes. The review compared the number of published studies evaluating male and female athletes in various sports and identified which co-ed sports underrepresented female athletes in the sports medicine literature. The review included a total of 669 studies, with most studies isolating male athletes (70.7%), while only 8.8% isolated female athletes. Male athletes were favored in sports such as baseball, soccer, rugby, and basketball, while female athletes were more frequently studied in softball and volleyball. The study also found that research on male athletes dominated in most co-ed sports. The causes of these inequalities are likely multifaceted, including biases in sport, availability of public and database data, financial and promotional incentives, and a high percentage of male sports medicine clinicians and researchers. The review suggests that researchers should consider including both sexes in their studies whenever possible, and journals should support a more balanced representation of research publications regarding male and female athletes.

Keywords

systematic review

sports medicine research

inequalities

male athletes

female athletes

co-ed sports

sports medicine literature

research

biases

balanced representation