RETURN TO ABSTRACT LISTING


Objective:
Diagnostic radiology ranks third amongst clinical specialties with the smallest proportion of full-time female faculty. In addition, Black faculty and Hispanic faculty make up approximately 3% and 5%, respectively, of the academic work force. To provide insights into potential disparities of matching into diagnostic radiology residency programs, the match data over the past 7 years was utilized to calculate the relative risks of not matching for Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders, as compared to White people and for women as compared to men. The results can be used by residency programs to evaluate the effectiveness of efforts to increase diversity and equity.

Materials and Methods:
Demographic information on diagnostic radiology residents was collected by the authors from the Accreditation Council for Graduate medical education (ACGME) data books for the period 2015-2016 to 2021-2022. To obtain the corresponding applicant pool, the authors analyzed four years of Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) statistics, which were retrieved from the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) website. The authors then compared the race and gender composition of the applicant pool to that of the enrolled residents to calculate the relative risk of not matching for women compared to men and for racial minorities compared to White people.

Results:
Across all years, women have a higher relative risk of going unmatched than men with that risk ranging from 1.02 (0.99 to 1.06) in 2021- 2022 to 1.09 (1.07 to 1.12) in 2015-2016, p-values being statistically significant for all years except 2021-2022. Furthermore, across all years underrepresented minorities (URMs) have a higher relative risk of going unmatched than White people. Specifically, the relative risk for Black individuals ranged from 1.33 (1.26 to 1.40) in 2021-2022 to 1.49 (1.44 to 1.55) in 2015-2016; for Hispanic individuals, the relative risk ranged from 1.19 (1.13 to 1.26) in 2021-2022 to 1.48 (1.43 to 1.54) in 2015-2016; for Asian individuals, the relative risk ranged from 1.04 (1.00 to 1.08) in 2020-2021 to 1.31 (1.27 to 1.35) in 2015-2016; and for Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander individuals, the relative risk ranged from 1.67 (1.58 to 1.76) in 2015-2016 to 1.76 (1.67 to 1.85) in 2021-2022. All p-values were statistically significant, and the 95% confidence intervals for all relative risks did not overlap with 1.0, with the exception of Asians in 2020-2021.

Conclusion:
Our data indicate that there is a statistically significant difference in the relative risk of not matching into diagnostic radiology residency among different races and sexes. Women are at a consistently higher risk of not matching as compared to men, while URMs are consistently at a higher risk of not matching as compared to White people. However, our data also suggests that these disparities are slowly decreasing over time. It is important for medical institutions to focus on identifying and addressing the underlying factors that contribute to these disparities to ensure fair and equitable opportunities for all candidates.