Background of participated cardiologists.

BackgroundTraining opportunities, work satisfaction, and the factors that influence them according to gender and subspecialties are understudied among Japanese cardiologists.MethodsWe investigated the career development of Japanese cardiologists with an e-mail questionnaire. Feelings of inequality in training opportunities, work dissatisfaction, and reasons were assessed by examining the cardiologists’ gender and invasiveness of subspecialties.ResultsResponses were received from 2,566 cardiologists. Female cardiologists were underrepresented in invasive subspecialties compared to males (14.2% vs. 85.8%, pConclusionsFemale cardiologists felt more inequality regarding training opportunities and dissatisfaction with career development than male cardiologists in both the invasive and non-invasive subspecialties. Diversity support is warranted for achieving satisfying career course regardless of gender and subspecialty.