Social Media Influence and Gender Are Correlated with Industry Payments to Orthopaedic Sports Surgeons

Abstract

Background: Social media, specifically Twitter, has become an increasingly used tool in academic orthopaedic surgery to help surgeons connect with patients and peers. This study seeks to understand correlations among social medial influence, academic influence, and gender among academic orthopaedic sport surgeons. Methods: A list of all orthopaedic sports surgeons serving as faculty of sports fellowships in the United States was compiled, along with publicly available demographic information. Their h-indices were obtained using the Scopus database. The Physician Payments Sunshine Act website was used to determine their industry payments from 2014 through 2020. The number of Twitter followers was used a measure of social media influence. Multivariable linear regression models were employed to explore the associations between these parameters and industry payments. Results: Of the 633 surgeons, 33% had a Twitter account. Surgeons with >1,000 followers (7.3%) were awarded 186% more in non-research funding (p = 0.01) and had a higher probability of receiving industry research funding compared to those with no followers (p = 0.03). Sports surgeons had an average h-index of 16, with 44% having ≤ 20 publications and 21% having ≥ 100 publications. Surgeons with ≥ 100 publications were awarded 453% more in non-research funding (p = 0.001) and had a 32% higher probability of receiving industry research funding (p < 0.001) when compared to their colleagues with ≤ 20 publications. Female sports surgeons accounted for only 7.9% of surgeons included in the study, and were awarded 65% less in industry non-research funding compared to their male colleagues (p = 0.004) when controlling for other factors. Conclusions: Both number of publications and a high level of Twitter activity (> 1,000 followers) had the strongest associations with the quantity of industry non-research funding and the highest probability of industry research funding. Female sports surgeons received significantly less industry non-research funding compared to their male colleagues. Future studies further exploring gender disparities in industry funding for orthopaedic surgeons may be warranted.

2015–2021 Industry Payments to Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgeons: Analysis of Trends and Characteristics of Top-earning Surgeons

“…Consistent with previous studies, 23,25,26 we found a weak positive correlation between the h-index and nonresearch aggregate industry payments. However, we also found a correlation between the h-index and higher earning percentile.…”

“…22 Together, these data suggest that gender disparities in industry payments to pediatric orthopaedic surgeons may be perpetuated more by payments to a handful of top-percentile male outliers than by the systemic gendered differences in surgeon-industry interactions. 11,24 Consistent with previous studies, 23,25,26 we found a weak positive correlation between the h-index and nonresearch aggregate industry payments. However, we also found a correlation between the h-index and higher earning percentile.…”

“…In 2021, women pediatric surgeons received significantly lower median industry payments than men—echoing results of previous studies involving other orthopaedic 23,24 and nonorthopaedic physicians 11 . However, we found no significant difference in the proportion of women orthopaedic surgeons in the top percentile of industry earners versus the bottom.…”