Auditing The Representation Of Female Athletes In Sports Medicine Research: Rotator Cuff Repair

INTRODUCTION: While female representation within athletics has increased, equality in sports medicine research falls flat. PURPOSE: The purpose of this project was to systematically review the primary literature available on rotator cuff repair and assess the representation of female athletes in the current literature based on a standardized protocol. METHODS: This was a systematic audit of the available literature regarding rotator cuff repair using a standardized protocol published by Smith et al. in 2022. Primary factors identified and analyzed included the following: study population, athletic caliber, menstrual status, research theme, sample of males and females, journal impact factor, and paper Altmetric score. RESULTS: 20 articles met the inclusion criteria. 650 rotator cuff repairs were identified with 514 (79%) of repairs studied occurring in males and 136 (20%) occurring in females. The majority of studies (15/20, 75%) were mixed cohort, followed by 3 male only studies (3/20, 15%), and 2 female only studies (2/20, 10%). Out of 479 shoulders involved within the mixed-sex cohort, 353 (73%) were male while 126 (26%) were female. 1 female only study investigated national athletes, and the other investigated international athletes. All mixed-sex cohorts investigated only health outcomes. The 2 female only studies only investigated health outcomes. All female only studies and mixed-sex cohort studies failed to include menstruation as a variable. CONCLUSIONS: Females are not adequately represented in research regarding rotator cuff repair. Future research should focus on increasing female-only studies, inclusion of menstrual status in study design and evaluating performance outcomes in the setting rotator cuff repair.