RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Work-life balance: a comparison of women in cardiology and other specialties JF Open Heart JO Open Heart FD British Cardiovascular Society SP e001678 DO 10.1136/openhrt-2021-001678 VO 8 IS 2 A1 Anastasia Vlachadis Castles A1 Sonya Burgess A1 Kristy Robledo A1 Anna L Beale A1 Sinjini Biswas A1 Louise Segan A1 Sarah Gutman A1 Swati Mukherjee A1 Angeline Leet A1 Sarah Zaman YR 2021 UL http://openheart.bmj.com/content/8/2/e001678.abstract AB Objective Significant gender disparities exist in some medical specialties, particularly cardiology. We assessed work, personal life and work-life balance in women in cardiology in Australia and New Zealand (NZ), compared with other specialties, to determine factors that may contribute to the lack of women in the specialty.Methods This study is a prospective survey-based cohort study comparing cardiology and non-cardiology specialties. An online survey was completed by female doctors in Australia and NZ, recruited via email lists and relevant social media groups. The survey included demographics, specialty, stage of training, work hours/setting, children and relationships, career satisfaction, income and perceptions of specialty.Results 452 participants completed the survey (median age 36 years), of which 57 (13%) worked in cardiology. Of all respondents, 84% were partnered and 75% had children, with no difference between cardiology and non-cardiology specialties. Compared with non-cardiology specialties, women in cardiology worked more hours per week (median 50 hours vs 40 hours, p<0.001), were more likely to be on call more than once per week (33% vs 12%, p<0.001) and were more likely to earn an annual income >$3 00 000 (35% vs 10%, p<0.001). Women in cardiology were less likely to agree that they led a balanced life (33% vs 51%, p=0.03) or that their specialty was female friendly (19% vs 75%, p<0.001) or family friendly (20% vs 63%, p<0.001).Conclusions Compared with other specialties, women in cardiology reported poorer work-life balance, greater hours worked and on-call commitments and were less likely to perceive their specialty as female friendly or family friendly. Addressing work-life balance may attract and retain more women in cardiology.Data are available upon reasonable request. Deidentified participant data are available by contacting AVC (ORCID 0000-0002-5123-5980). The data can be used at the discretion of the authors.