Radiology has made strides in increasing diversity over the past decade when compared to other medical professions, according to a new analysis published Sept. 23.

Over the decade that followed the 2010-2011 academic year, radiology has seen its share of Black residents increase from 3.07% to 3.83% and 4.83% to 7.35% for Hispanic residents. As of the 2020-2021 year, radiology ranked 10th among specialties for Black representation and 9th for Latinos, experts detail in Academic Radiology.

While the numbers remain low, researchers believe they represent progress, especially when compared to other areas of medicine.

“Several factors have been proposed to explain the lack of greater diversity, including exposure to the specialty, selection criteria, outreach and mentorship opportunities,” lead author Xiao Wu, MD, with the Department of Radiology, University of California at San Francisco, and colleagues wrote. “Unconscious (implicit) bias and amplification cascade may also play a role to undermine best efforts to increase diversity in radiology. Development and implementation of strategies that support diversity as an institutional policy have been encouraged in radiology, including bias training, with greater opportunities and resources for professional development. However, similar efforts have been made in other specialties as well.”

For the study, Wu et al. gathered Graduate Medical Education results from the 2010-2011 to 2020-2021 academic years, targeting all major medical specialties with more than 500 residents. They also excluded any subspecialties or fellowship programs from the investigation.

Nine of the 21 specialties saw an increase in Black residents during the study period, including emergency and internal medicine, neurology, pathology, pediatrics, psychiatry, radiation oncology and radiology. Pathology had the biggest leap, going from 3.31% in 2010-2011 to 5.17% by the end of the study period. Radiology recorded the fourth highest gain, behind only pathology, pediatrics and internal medicine. Meanwhile, multiple specialties saw decreases in Black resident numbers, such as otolaryngology and orthopedic, general, plastic and neurological surgery. The latter saw the biggest drop, falling from 7.16% to 5.77%. Radiology had one of the lowest percentages as of 2010-2011, but its strides placed it higher than ophthalmology, radiation oncology, plastic surgery and otolaryngology by the end of the study period.

All but two specialties (physical medicine/rehab and plastic surgery) recorded increases in percentages of Hispanic residents. Neurosurgery saw the largest gain, leaping from 5.26% to 8.57% by 2020-2021. Radiology’s 2.52 percentage-point gain represented the third largest increase in Hispanic representation, behind only neurosurgery and urology.

Nine of the 21 specialties recorded upticks in the percentage of Asian residents over a 10-year period. Those included anesthesia, dermatology, emergency medicine, OBGYN, otolaryngology, pathology, plastic surgery, radiology and urology. Imaging’s change was relatively modest, going from 26.2% in 2010-2011 up to 26.29% 10 years later. Pathology, plastic surgery and EM saw the biggest gains, while radiation oncology, general surgery, and internal medicine tallied the largest losses.

Except for internal medicine, physical medicine/rehab and psychiatry, most specialties saw decreases in the proportion of white residents. The highest declines were witnessed in dermatology, EM and radiology, with reductions in percentages at more than 11%.

“The limitations of this study include the inconsistent reporting of multiracial individuals, which was not recorded until 2014-2015, thus limiting evaluation. Using publicly published data sets, our study lacks individual-level data, limiting the granularity of our statistical analyses,” the authors noted. “In conclusion, although Blacks and Hispanics remain underrepresented in radiology, their representation has improved relative to other medical specialties in the last decade.”

Read more in Academic Radiology at the link below.