Gender Disparity in Surgical Device Patents: A 5-year Trend From Canada and the United States

INTRODUCTION

Despite an increasing number of women pursuing careers in science, engineering, and medicine, gender disparities in patents persist. This study sought to analyze trends in inventor's gender for surgical device patents filed and granted in Canada and the United States from 2015 to 2019.

METHODS

This study analyzed patents filed and granted by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) in the category of "Diagnosis; Surgery; Identification" and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in the category of "Surgery" from 2015 to 2019. The gender of the patent applicants was determined using a gender algorithm that predicts gender based on first names. Gender matches with names having a probability of less than 95% were excluded.

RESULTS

We identified 14,312 inventors on patents filed and 12,737 inventors on patents granted by the CIPO for "Diagnosis; Surgery; Identification". In the USPTO category of "Surgery," we identified 75,890 inventors on patents filed and 44,842 inventors on patents granted. Female inventors accounted for 7%-10% of inventors from 2015 to 2019 for both patents filed and granted. The proportion of female inventors on patents granted was significantly lower than for patents filed for four of the 5 y analyzed for both the USPTO and CIPO.

CONCLUSIONS

Female representation in surgical device patenting has stagnated, between 7 and 10%, from 2015 to 2019 in Canada and the United States. This underrepresentation of female inventors in surgical device patenting represents sizable gender disparity.

Demographic features, clinical characteristics, and prognostic factors of non-epithelial ovarian tumors at Princess Noorah Oncology Center, National Guard Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Objectives:

To reveal the demographic features, prognostic factors, and tumor characteristics of patients with non-epithelial ovarian tumors (NEOTs).

Methods:

This cross-sectional study was performed using data from all female patients diagnosed with NEOT (germ cell [GC], sex cord–stromal cells [SCSC], sarcoma, and small cell carcinoma) from 2002 to 2017 at Princess Noorah Oncology Center, National Guard Hospital Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Results:

Forty patients with NEOTs were identified. There were equal percentages of GC (45%) and SCSC (45%) origin tumors, and these were the most common histological types. The remaining tumors were sarcomas. Germ cell tumors were more common in younger patients, while SCSC tumors were more frequent in the older age group.

Conclusion:

The findings for protective and risk factors were inconclusive. Patients with GC tumors had better survival outcomes than those with the other subtypes.

North American urogynecology fellowship programs: value of program website content

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS

Urogynecology fellowship program websites are an important source of information to potential applicants, especially given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and resulting travel restrictions. Our study evaluated the publicly available information on American and Canadian urogynecology fellowship websites and present recommendations for website content development to promote the subspecialty of urogynecology.

METHODS

Data were collected from all active American and Canadian urogynecology fellowship program websites between May and June 2020 against 72 criteria developed from previously published studies. The criteria included the following sections: Recruitment, Faculty Information, Current Fellows, Research and Education, Surgical Program, Clinical Work, Benefits and Career Planning, Wellness, and Environment.

RESULTS

54 American urogynecology program websites and 11 Canadian urogynecology program websites were analyzed. The mean score of American and Canadian websites was 46.46% (n = 33.45 ± 7.20 out of 72) and 27.40% (n = 19.73 ± 3.77 out of 72), respectively. American program websites scored significantly higher on available information than Canadian websites. The highest prevalence section across American websites was Wellness (64%, n = 1.92 ± 0.85 out of 3 criteria) while the lowest prevalence section was Clinical Work (15.17%, n = 0.91 ± 1.02 out of 6 criteria). Comparatively, Canadian websites scored highest in the Faculty Information section (43.12%, 3.45 ± 2.02) and lowest in the Clinical Work section (6%, n = 0.36 ± 0.67 out of 6 criteria).

CONCLUSIONS

American and Canadian websites thoroughly covered the Wellness and Faculty Information sections, respectively. Program websites should consider adding details about Benefits and Career Planning and Clinical Work.