To study patterns and factors associated with female representation in the American Urological Association (AUA) guidelines.
We gathered publicly available information about the panelists, including AUA section, practice setting, academic rank, fellowship training, years in practice, and H-index. The factors associated with the proportion of female panelists and trends were investigated. We also examined the proportion of female panelists in the EAU and NCCN urology guidelines.
There were 483 non-unique panelists in AUA guidelines, and 17% are female. Non-urologist female panelists in AUA guidelines represent a higher proportion than female urologists (30% vs. 13%, p<0.0001). Compared with male panelists, females had lower H-indices (median 23 vs. 35, p<0.001), and fewer were fellowship-trained (77.2% vs. 86.8%; p=0.042). On multivariate analysis, non-urologists and panelists with lower H-indices were more likely to be female but there was no association between guideline specialties, academic ranking, geographic section, years in practice, and fellowship training with increased female authorship. Over time, the proportion of female participation in guidelines remained stable. In the EAU and NCCN guideline panels, 12.2% and 10.7% were female, respectively.
Female representation among major urologic guidelines members is low and unchanged over time. Female urologist participation was proportional to their representation in the urology workforce. Being a non-urologist and lower H-indices were associated with female membership in guideline panels.

Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Inc.

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