Is Sport and Exercise Medicine Engaging in Consistent and Equitable Reporting of Demographics in Clinical Research?

SYNOPSIS: There is inconsistent reporting or nonreporting of race, ethnicity, sex, and gender in sports medicine research. Prioritizing consistent and equitable reporting of demographics can improve generalizability, transparency, and rigor of research, particularly as practitioners translate scientific discoveries to diverse clinical settings. Through the lens of pediatric concussion clinical trials, we summarize existing recommendations for collecting race, ethnicity, sex, and gender in clinical research with the intent of sharing improved approaches to reporting demographics in future research. We argue that sex and gender, as well as race and ethnicity, despite often being used interchangeably, represent important and unique aspects of personal identity that may affect health outcomes. We encourage researchers to report disaggregated race, ethnicity, sex, and gender data to better capture the complexities of these demographics and their implications for health care and research. JOSPT Open 2025;3(4):374-376. Epub 8 May 2025. doi:10.2519/josptopen.2025.0156