Sex Disparities in Operating Room use Among Cataract Surgeons: A 10-Year Retrospective Population-Based Analysis

center dot PURPOSE: To evaluate sex differences in operating room (OR) time and case volumes among comprehen-sive cataract surgeons in Ontario, Canada's most popu-lated province. center dot DESIGN: Retrospective, population-based cohort study. center dot METHODS: Physician billing data of active comprehen-sive cataract surgeons between 2010 and 2019 were an-alyzed to identify all cataract surgeries in this timeframe. The number of OR days and case volume were the pri-mary outcomes. Data were stratified by surgeon sex and career stage. center dot RESULTS: Between 2010 and 2019, approximately 1.05 million cataract surgeries were performed in On-tario. There were an average of 195 +/- 3 comprehensive cataract surgeons per year, of which 39 +/- 5 were female. The proportion of female surgeons increased from 16.8% of all surgeons in 2010 to 24.4% in 2019. The great-est proportion of male surgeons were in the late phase of their career, whereas the greatest proportion of female surgeons were in the early stage of their career. On av-erage, male surgeons had 44.9 +/- 1.90 OR days per year and females had 32 +/- 1.90 OR days per year, resulting in female surgeons averaging 12.45 +/- 1.90 fewer OR days per year. This OR distribution remained consistent across career stages. Average case volumes per OR day were sim-ilar across sexes, but male surgeons performed on average 172.7 +/- 30.6 more surgeries per year. center dot CONCLUSIONS: Despite performing similar average case volumes per OR day, female surgeons had less OR time compared to their male counterparts per year, and this remained consistent across career stages and over the 10-year period. Metrics for OR allocation and use should be well defined and transparent. (Am J Ophthalmol 2024;259: 102-108. (c) 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)