Department of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas UT-MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
Department of Radiation Oncology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York.
Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2024 Nov 15;120(4):936-939. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2024.06.004. Epub 2024 Jun 17.
Because some stakeholders within medicine seek to diversify and attain greater workforce equity, it is critical to understand gender-based divisions within specialization. Radiation oncology (RO) has one of the smallest proportions of women representation of all specialties, and to our knowledge, no prior studies have investigated gender differences in all the disease site specializations within RO. Thus, we analyzed the relationship between gender and disease site(s) treated in academic RO (ARO).
Faculty gender and disease site(s) treated by faculty from ARO departments were collected via publicly available department websites in January 2020. X analyses were conducted to assess differences between the proportions of women faculty treating each disease site.
Of 1337 ARO faculty, 408 (30.5%) were identified as women. Breast, gynecology, and pediatrics had the largest proportions of women faculty (all >40%; P < .001). A majority (53%; P < .001) of women ARO faculty treated breast. Genitourinary, thoracic, and head and neck had the smallest proportions of women faculty (all <25%; P < .001). Women ARO faculty were twice as likely to treat breast and gynecologic malignancies compared with men faculty (risk ratio [RR] with 95% CI, 2.01 [1.75-2.50]; P < .001 and RR [95% CI], 2.06 [1.72-2.79]; P <.001, respectively). Men ARO faculty were 3 times more likely to treat genitourinary cancer compared with women faculty (RR [95% CI], 0.40 [0.34-0.48]; P < .001). There was no difference in the mean number of disease sites treated between women and men ARO faculty (2.63 vs 2.53; P = .29).
Gender differences in disease site specialization were observed in ARO. Future research into the drivers of disease site selection should be explored.
由于医学领域的一些利益相关者希望实现多元化并获得更大的劳动力公平，因此了解专业化中的性别差异至关重要。放射肿瘤学（RO）是所有专业中女性代表性最小的专业之一，据我们所知，以前没有研究调查过 RO 中所有疾病部位专业的性别差异。因此，我们分析了学术放射肿瘤学（ARO）中性别与疾病部位之间的关系。
2020 年 1 月，通过公开的部门网站收集了 ARO 部门教职员工的性别和治疗的疾病部位。进行 X 分析以评估治疗每个疾病部位的女性教职员工比例之间的差异。
在 1337 名 ARO 教职员工中，有 408 名（30.5%）被确定为女性。乳腺、妇科和儿科的女性教职员工比例最大（均>40%；P<.001）。大多数（53%；P<.001）女性 ARO 教职员工治疗乳腺癌。泌尿生殖系统、胸部和头颈部的女性教职员工比例最小（均<25%；P<.001）。与男性教职员工相比，女性 ARO 教职员工治疗乳腺癌和妇科恶性肿瘤的可能性是其两倍（风险比 [95%CI]，2.01[1.75-2.50]；P<.001 和 RR [95%CI]，2.06[1.72-2.79]；P<.001，分别）。与女性教职员工相比，男性 ARO 教职员工治疗泌尿生殖系统癌症的可能性高 3 倍（RR [95%CI]，0.40[0.34-0.48]；P<.001）。女性和男性 ARO 教职员工治疗的疾病部位数量没有差异（平均值分别为 2.63 和 2.53；P=.29）。
在 ARO 中观察到疾病部位专业化方面的性别差异。应该探索对疾病部位选择驱动因素的进一步研究。
