Table 1. Overall comparison between cardiothoracic (CT) surgeons practicing at the “top CT centers” and their peers at “other CT centers” (our study population), together with similar data regarding the US physician workforce at large (as available through the published literature).
| Variables | Our population | Comparison with the published literature | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top CT centersa | Other CT centers | P | All US physiciansb | All US general surgeons (i.e., “general surgery” as self-designated specialty)b | All US CT surgeons (i.e., “thoracic surgery” as self-designated specialty)b | STS/AATS surgical workforce surveyc | ||
| Number of CT centers | 18 | 39 | – | – | – | – | – | |
| Number of individuals | 299 (43.1) | 395 (56.9) | – | 1,045,910 | 39,247 | 4,668 | 2,648 survey respondents (of whom: 1,467 in active clinical practice in the US) | |
| Number of CT surgeons per center | 17 (6–28; 12–22) | 9 (1-34; 6–14) | <0.001KW | – | – | – | – | |
| Demographics | ||||||||
| Female | 23 (7.7) | 28 (7.1) | 0.88± | 333,294 (31.9) | 8,111 (20.7) | 292 (6.3) | 4.6% of respondents (3.4% of adult cardiac [AC], 5.2% of congenital heart [CH], and 7.9% of general thoracic [GT] surgeons, respectively). | |
| Age (years) | NA | NA | Mean: 52.5 | Mean: 47.4 | Mean: 54.7 | Median: 52.9 for the CT surgeons in active clinical practice in the US (52.5 years for AC, 49.6 for CH and 52.0 for GT surgeons, respectively) | ||
| Years since graduation from medical school | 25 (7–62; 18–32) | 24 (8-71; 18–33) | 0.55KW | NA | NA | NA | NA | |
| Prior training | ||||||||
| International medical graduates (IMGs) | 65 (21.9) | 83 (21.1) | 0.85± | 278,477 (26.6) | 6,847 (17.4) | 930 (19.9) | NA | |
| Medical graduates of the top 10 US medical schoolsd | 79 (26.4) | 58 (14.7) | <0.001± | – | – | – | – | |
| Any international traininge | 86 (28.8) | 101 (25.6) | 0.39± | – | – | – | – | |
| Any training at their current institution | 161 (53.8) | 155 (39.2) | <0.001± | – | – | – | – | |
| PhD | 29 (9.7) | 36 (9.1) | 0.90 | – | – | – | – | |
Missing data points were excluded. Data are expressed as number (percentage) or median (range; IQR). KW, Kruskal-Wallis test; ±, Chi square test. a, defined as among the top 10 US institutions in at least one of the following categories in the US News & World Report 2015-2016: “Honor Roll”, “Adult Cardiology and Heart Surgery”, “Adult Pulmonology” or “Adult Cancer”; b, source: American Medical Association (4); c, source: Shemin et al. (5); d, defined as one of the best 10 US medical schools for research according to the US News & World Report 2015-2016; e, surgeons who received at least part (any among medical school, residency, fellowship or “superfellowship”) of their training outside the US. AATS, American Association for Thoracic Surgery; CT, cardiothoracic; NA, data not available; STS, Society of Thoracic Surgeons.