Equity, diversity, and inclusion in anaesthesia and critical care medicine: consider the various aspects of diversity.

Editor—Women are underrepresented in leadership and academic roles (e.g. research leads, editorial boards, authors, conference speakers) in medicine in general, and in anaesthesia and critical care medicine specifically. 1 Bosco L. Lorello G.R. Flexman A.M. Hastie M.J. Women in anaesthesia: a scoping review. Br J Anaesth. 2020; 124: e134-e147 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (42) Google Scholar , 2 Mehta S. Ahluwalia N. Heybati K. et al. Diversity of authors of publications from the Canadian critical care Trials group. Crit Care Med. 2022; 50: 535-542 Crossref PubMed Scopus (6) Google Scholar , 3 Pan S. Zheng W. Rong L.Q. Gender representation on editorial boards of anaesthesiology journals from 2010 to 2020. Br J Anaesth. 2022; 129: e53-e55 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (0) Google Scholar Despite recent equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) efforts and policies implemented in healthcare, medical societies, and scientific journals, 4 Weiss B. Task Force and working groups for diversity and equality of the ESICM. Statement paper on diversity for the European society of intensive care medicine (ESICM). Intensive Care Med. 2019; 45: 1002-1005 Crossref Scopus (10) Google Scholar ,5 Position statement from the Editors of Anaesthesia on equity, diversity and inclusion. in: Agarwal S. El-Boghdadly K. 77. Anaesthesia, 2022: 1018-1022 Google Scholar women still face discrimination and barriers to academic career advancement. 6 Matot I. De Hert S. Cohen B. Koch T. Women anaesthesiologists’ attitudes and reported barriers to career advancement in anaesthesia: a survey of the European Society of Anaesthesiology. Br J Anaesth. 2020; 124: e171-e177 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (0) Google Scholar A more granular look at diversity of groups of people while considering intersecting axes of subordination (interaction between sex, gender, age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, disability, etc.) is required. Intersectionality will afford the anaesthesia and critical care communities an opportunity to better understand disparities while not homogenising groups of people, the mechanisms that perpetuate these disparities, and impactful strategies to address them. 7 Chen C.L. Gold G.J. Cannesson M. Lucero J.M. Calling out aversive racism in academic medicine. N Engl J Med. 2021; 385: 2499-2501 Crossref PubMed Scopus (0) Google Scholar ,8 Han J.E. Burns K.E.A. Dodek P.M. Mehta S. Improving diversity in activities of critical care societies: missed opportunities due to missing data. Chest. 2021; 159: 1334-1337 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (0) Google Scholar Here we highlight the lack of intersecting sociodemographic data, which limits assessment of diversity in its different aspects in anaesthesia and critical care medicine. We provide suggestions for improving sociodemographic data collection using a more granular method.