Science policies and practice of including and excluding women from clinical studies: focus on cardiovascular research

The under-representation of women in clinical studies remains a major issue, recognized by researchers, patients, and legislators alike. In this review, we examine the key legislative documents that have shaped policies governing the exclusion and inclusion of women in clinical research over the past several decades, and their impact on seminal cardiovascular studies. We focus on early federal human-subject regulations codified as the Common Rule, which initially contributed to the near-complete