Biographies of Minimally Invasive Gynecological Surgeons: Analysis of Linguistic Differences Based on Sex,Graduation Year,Region,and State of Practice

Abstract

Study Objective:

Assess what demographic variables affect self-representation in online biographies.

Design:

National, cross-sectional review and analysis of surgeon biographies.

Setting:

Publicly available biographies obtained online.

Patients:

2011–2021 FMIGS US Graduates.

Interventions:

Data extracted for each surgeon included sex, graduation year, and state and region of current practice. Biography text was uploaded into the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LiWC) Software and analyzed for measures of analytic thinking, clout, and authenticity using a summary statistic provided by LiWC. RStudio was used to analyze LiWC output.

Measurements and Main Results:

Of the 268 biographies collected, 75.4% were from female surgeons, and 24.6% were from male surgeons. Graduates practiced in 29 states and Washington, DC, primarily centered around urban areas including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, New York City, Pittsburgh, and DC. State and region of practice significantly impacted authenticity, while region had impacts on analytic thinking and clout. Biographies from Western states scored higher on authenticity than those from Northeastern and Southern states. Western states scored lower on clout than the South or Northeast, and the South scored higher than the Midwest. Surgeon sex or graduation year did not significantly impact the studied variables.

Conclusion:

The significant impact of region and state of current practice on a surgeon's biography suggests that surgeon representation differs between geographies and reinforces how local factors strongly influence the health care market. Further research into market characteristics and practice patterns can elucidate what drives the importance of biographical characteristics and whether that impacts patient care.