Analysis of Linguistic Differences Based on Gender, Graduation Year, Region, and State of Practice

INTRODUCTION: Physicians are increasingly incorporating personal details into their online biographies, reflecting their approach to patient care. Factors such as location, healthcare accessibility, perceived quality, and communication style can influence patient choices, with local cultural elements playing a significant role. However, limited research has examined how aspects like location, gender, and other variables affect self-representation in physician biographies. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to determine whether the biographies of MIGS surgeons show linguistic differences based on surgeon gender, location, region, or fellowship graduation year. METHODS: We conducted a national, cross-sectional review of publicly available biographies of Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery Fellowship (FMIGS) U.S. graduates from 2013 to 2023. We collected data on each surgeon’s gender, graduation year, and current state and region of practice. The biography text was analyzed using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software, focusing on measures of analytic thinking, clout, and authenticity. RStudio facilitated the analysis of the LIWC output. RESULTS: Of the 268 biographies collected, 75.4% were from female surgeons and 24.6% from male surgeons. The graduates practiced across 29 states and Washington, D.C., predominantly in urban areas such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, New York City, Pittsburgh, and Washington, D.C. We found that state and region significantly influenced the authenticity of biographies, while region affected analytic thinking and clout. Biographies from Western states scored higher in authenticity compared to those from the Northeast and South, whereas the Western states exhibited lower clout than the South and Northeast, with the South outperforming the Midwest. Surgeon gender and graduation year did not significantly impact these linguistic variables (Figures 1 and 2). CONCLUSIONS: The study found that the location of practice significantly affects the content of surgeon biographies, underscoring the influence of geographic factors on the healthcare landscape. These regional variations may be understood through the lens of geographic psychology, which explores the spatial clustering of psychological traits. Further investigation into market dynamics and practice patterns is necessary to understand the implications of biographical characteristics on patient care (Table 1).