Analysis of Literature Regarding Health Care Disparities in Radiology: Is Radiology Falling Behind?

Abstract

Purpose: To quantify the gap between radiology and other specialties regarding the amount of literature on healthcare disparities (HCD).

Methods: Four different searches were conducted to evaluate the amount of literature on HCD in radiology as compared to internal medicine and surgery. Initially, the Journal Citation Report was utilized to search for the five highest ranking journals in each field and a second search used impact factor. A combination of search terms "health" AND "disparities" was used. Two additional searches were performed with PubMed using the terms "health" AND "disparities AND "radiology" with the final term changed for each specialty. The second PubMed search added the term "medical education" for each specialty. Articles were limited to years 2017 to 2020.

Results: The initial search found 1817 articles discussing "health" and "disparities". 14.6% of these were radiology, 65.7% internal medicine, and 19.7% surgery. The subsequent search controlling for impact factor found 2176 articles. 12.2% were for radiology, 66.1% were for internal medicine, and 21.7% for surgery. The initial PubMed search found 6543 articles. 9.9% were for radiology, 32.4% for internal medicine, and 57.7% were for surgery. The addition of "medical education" decreased the articles to 807. Radiology had 9.9%, internal medicine was 44.2%, and surgery was 45.9 %.

Conclusion: A gap in HCD literature exists for radiology as compared to surgery and internal medicine. However, radiology has demonstrated a recent significant push towards understanding HCD. Radiology should continue to capitalize on its momentum and develop HCD curricula and research.

Keywords: Health care disparities; Radiology; Resident Education.