Trends in Racial and Ethnic Representation Among Vascular Surgery Residents Relative to Other Specialties Over the
Kiran A Goyal1, Jeffrey Forris Beecham Chick2, David S Shin2
1Division of Vascular Diseases and Surgery, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.
Background:
To assess trends in resident diversity within vascular surgery as compared to other specialties over the past decade.
Methods:
The American Association of Medical Colleges Graduate Medical Education Database was accessed for the academic years 2012-2013 and 2022-2023, and demographic information regarding racial and ethnic makeup of medical specialty training programs was collected, categorized as White/Caucasian, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, Black, and Native American. Changes in resident diversity in vascular surgery over the past decade were compared to other residencies using Chi-squared analysis (P < 0.05).
Results:
In the 2022-2023 academic year, vascular surgery residency programs ranked 14th of the 25 examined specialties in percent enrollment of White residents (51%), ninth in Asian/Pacific Islanders (27%), 10th in Hispanic/Latino residents (9.4%), eighth in Black residents (6.3%), and third in Native American residents (0.26%). Between 2012-2013 and 2022-2023, vascular surgery residencies demonstrated the largest increase in percent enrollment of Black residents (4.8%). Upon Chi-squared analysis, vascular surgery residencies experienced significantly higher increases of Asian/Pacific Islander (P = 0.0008 and 0.0015, respectively) and Black (P = 0.0016 and P = 0.008, respectively) resident enrollment than both the surgical and nonsurgical specialties. Vascular surgery residencies did not differ in regard to changes in White, Hispanic/Latino, and Native American enrollment as compared to surgical and nonsurgical specialties.
Conclusion:
Vascular surgery residencies ranked ninth, 10th, eighth, and third in proportional enrollment of Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, Black, and Native American residents, respectively, and were among the top specialties demonstrating increases in representation of both Black and Asian residents.
