Medical Student Carle Illinois College of Medicine, Minnesota, United States
Introduction: Women in neurosurgeons (WiNs) continue to remain a minority in the specialty despite significant initiatives. One domain less explored is the regional distribution of WiNs, facilitated by the hiring practices of neurosurgical departments across the US. In this analysis, we coupled the stated practice location of WiNs with regional geospatial data to identify hotspots and coldspots of prevalence and examined regional predictors of increases and decreases of WiNs over time.
Methods: We examined the NPI numbers of all neurosurgeons obtained via the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES), identifying the percentage of WiNs for each county for which data was appended via data from the US Census Bureau (USCB). Change in FN rates was identified by calculating a regression slope for all years included (2015-2022). Hotpots and coldspots were identified through Moran’s clustering, from population and surgeon features were compared for hotspots and coldspots.
Results: WiNs constituted 10.73% of all currently active neurosurgical NPIs, which has risen from 2015 (8.81%). Areas with at least 1 FN in 2015 saw the greatest increase in the number of WiNs, predictive of the slope cluster (p < 0.001). 3 hotspots were found – including the Middle Atlantic and Pacific Divisions, contrasted with scattered coldspots throughout the East Central regions, including Memphis as a major city included. While rapidly growing, hotspots remained significantly unequal, with a median FN percentage of 11.38%, with a median of 0.61 WiNs added to the area per year.
Conclusion : We analyzed the prevalence of WiNs using the aggregation of the NPPES, and USCB. We show regional hotspots of WiNs and show that the historicity of WiNs is a predictor of additional WiNs entering the region. We also show that despite regional differences, nationwide, the disparity of females in neurosurgery is significant and should be a priority for our field to address.
