Beyond demographics: Missing sociodemographics in surgical research

Area of Science:

• Medical research methodology
• Surgical outcomes research
• Health disparities

Background:

• Sociodemographic data is critical for understanding patient experience, outcomes, and heterogeneity of treatment effect (HTE).
• Social determinants of health and clinical characteristics significantly influence health outcomes.
• Previous clinical trials have underreported these factors, but their reporting in surgical research remains unexamined.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the extent of sociodemographic data reporting in prospective surgical research.
• To identify common and underreported sociodemographic variables in surgical studies.

Main Methods:

• A systematic review of prospective studies published in four surgical journals in 2016 was conducted.
• The study analyzed the reporting of patient identity, clinical health, individual-level, and interpersonal-level risk factors.
• Data on the proportion of studies reporting specific variables in "Table 1" were collected.

Main Results:

• Forty-one publications met the inclusion criteria.
• While patient identity (age, sex) and clinical characteristics were commonly reported (98%, 88%), individual-level (63%) and interpersonal-level (7%) risk factors were less frequently reported.
• Reporting varied significantly for specific factors, with race (50%), ethnicity (27%), education (24%), and functional status (22%) being inconsistently documented.

Conclusions:

• Sociodemographic reporting in current surgical research is insufficient for a complete participant description.
• There is a need for the surgical research community to establish consensus on reporting essential sociodemographics that influence patient outcomes and HTE.