P95. TRENDS IN GENDER AUTHORSHIP OF PRESENTATIONS IN PLASTIC SURGERY THE MEETING: A DECADE LONG ANALYSIS

Abstract

PURPOSE: This study aims to assess the proportion of female-to-male abstract presenters at Plastic Surgery The Meeting (PSTM). METHODS: A review of all abstracts presented at PSTM between 2010-2020 was conducted. The names of authors, authors’ affiliation, subspecialty, and awards granted were recorded. An automated gender assignment tool (gender-api.com) was used to determine the gender of the authors. Descriptive statistics and trend analyses using Cochran-Armitage trend tests were performed. RESULTS: Between 2010-2020, 3,653 abstracts were presented (oral=3,035, 83.1%; poster=618, 16.9%) with 22,196 (6,037 females, 27.2%) authors. Of these, 35.0%, 32.0%, and 19.0% of first, second, and last authors were women, respectively. The proportion of female authors increased from 20.4% in 2010 to 33.1% in 2020. The proportion of female first and last authors increased from 21.8% to 44.8% and 14.3% to 22.1%, respectively. The proportion of first, second, and last female authorship demonstrated a positive linear trend between 2010-2020 (p<0.01). For the years with available subspecialty data (2016-2020), the proportion of female first authors in aesthetics (23.9%) was lower than that for breast (41.8%), cranio/maxillofacial/head & neck (38.5%), practice management (43.3%), and research/technology (39.4%) (p<0.05). Males and females received awards at similar proportions. CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrates a significant increase in female representation as first, second and last authors in abstract presentations at PSTM within the last decade, though the absolute prevalence remains low.