Does sex affect the success rate of Canadian ophthalmology residency applicants?

Background: Despite equalization of the ratio of men and women among matriculating medical students, it is possible that different rates of success for applicants at the level of resident selection in the annual residency match may occur on the basis of sex. As part of a larger project, we examined this issue across the medical specialties. In the current article, the effect of sex on resident selection within the specialty of ophthalmology is explored. Methods: Data were obtained from the Canadian Medical Association, Canadian Institute for Health Information, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, Canadian Ophthalmological Society, and Canadian Residency Matching Service regarding sex- and age-specific demographics, as well as success rates for male and female applicants ranking an ophthalmology residency program as their top choice. The proportion of men who ranked ophthalmology as their top choice but did not match to any ophthalmology program was compared to the corresponding proportion of women. Results: The female:male ratio of practicing ophthalmologists has slowly increased over the past decade and is highest (0.41:1) within the under-45 age group. By grouping data from 1993 to 2004, we found that men who ranked an ophthalmology program as their first choice had odds of not being accepted to an ophthalmology program that were 1.1 times (95% confidence interval 0.8-2.0; p=0.34) the corresponding odds for women. Interpretation: Our data suggest that discrimination on the basis of sex does not occur at the level of residency selection. The lower level of female recruitment may be due to decreased interest in this specialty among women. Nonetheless, the proportion of female ophthalmologists within the Canadian workforce continues to increase.