SRS13 - The value of a voice: a systematic review of the gender pay gap in industry payments to surgeons

Abstract Aims As a profession, surgery is not safe from the gender pay gap. This systematic review aims to investigate the disparities in industry payments between the sexes, and how this differs across subspecialties. Methods Embase and PubMed databases were searched for English-language primary research reporting the gender pay gap by specialty, from 2000 onwards. Records were screened for eligibility, filtered into subcategories and records with overlapping populations were removed. Key findings were tabulated and compared. The NIH Quality Assessment Tool was used to assess the risk of bias among the evidence. Results The database search identified 6250 records. After screening for eligibility, removing records with overlapping study populations and filtering payment types, 12 records reporting industry payments were included in the review. 38 988 surgeons were cumulatively included, across 10 subspecialties including orthopaedic, general and academic surgeons. Records report only USA industry payments, using CMS Open Payments data. They encompass combinations of ownership or investment, general (including royalties and consulting) and research-related payments. All 12 studies had a minority female surgeon population (2–36%) and found that male surgeons collected 159–1143% of that of their female counterparts in industry payments. Discussion Current literature agrees that a stark gender pay gap is present in industry payments to surgeons. This raises concerns as payments of this nature directly represent the monetary value of their opinions and expertise. Further research should broaden this knowledge across more subspecialties and countries and improve understanding of the driver of this disparity in order to resolve it.