Sex Ratio of Graduated Medical Students of the School of Medicine in Mostar for the Period 2003-2020

Abstract

Background: In many countries today, there is an increase in the share of women practicing medicine. This trend has been called the''feminization'' of medicine. The aim of this study was to determine whether there is a trend towards the feminization of medicine within the School of Medicine in Mostar.Methods: The examinees were medical students who graduated from the School of Medicine from 2003 to 2019. Male:female ratios were calculated for each year and for the entire study period. The entire study period was divided into 3-time intervals: 2003-2007, 2008-2013 and 2014-2019. These time intervals were compared according to the male:female ratio.Results: During the studied time periods there were 67.30% female graduates and 32.70% male graduates with a male:female ratio of 0.49:1. There were statistically significantly more females than males in all examined periods. There was a trend towards an increased share of females since the percentages of females in 2003-2007, 2008-2013 and 2014-2019 were 64%, 65% and 71%, respectively. However, the differences in sex shares between these periods were not statistically significant.Conclusions: The results of this cross-sectional study showed a significantly greater share of females than males among graduates and a trend towards a statistically non-significant increase in the share of females from the first to the last generation of graduates,which is in line with global trends.Key words: women, feminization, sex ratio, medical profession, school of medicine