Current Trends in Subspecialty Fellowship Training for 1691 Academic Neurological Surgeons

OBJECTIVE: Neurosurgical subspecialty fellowship training has become increasingly popular in recent de-cades. However, few studies have evaluated recent trends in postgraduate subspecialty education. This study aims to provide a detailed cross-sectional analysis of subspecialty fellowship training completion trends and demographics among U.S. academic neurosurgeons.METHODS: Academic clinical faculty (M.D. or D.O.) teaching at accredited neurosurgery programs were included. Demographic, career, and fellowship data were collected from departmental physician profiles and the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) membership database. Relative citation ratio scores were retrieved using the National Institutes of Health iCite tool.RESULTS: This study included 1691 surgeons (1756 fel-lowships) from 125 institutions. The majority (79.13%) re-ported fellowship training. Fellowship completion was more common among recent graduates (residency year >2000), as was training in multiple subspecialties (P < 0.0001). Spine was the most popular subspecialty (16.04%), followed by pediatrics (11.18%), and cerebrovascular (9.46%). The least common were trauma/critical care (2.52%) and peripheral nerve (1.26%). Spine, neuroradi-ology, and endovascular subspecialties grew in popularity over time. Pediatrics and spine were the most popular for females and males, respectively. Epilepsy and cerebro-vascular had the most full professors, while endovascular and spine had the most assistant professors. Stereotactic/ functional and epilepsy had the most Ph.Ds. Fellowship training correlated with higher weighted, but not mean, relative citation ratio scores among associate (P = 0.002) and full professors (P = 0.005).CONCLUSIONS: There is an emerging proclivity for additional fellowship training among young neurosurgeons, often in multiple subspecialties. These findings are inten-ded to help guide professional decision-making and opti-mize the delivery of postgraduate education.

Automated summary

Neurosurgical subspecialty fellowship training has become increasingly popular among young neurosurgeons, often in multiple subspecialties. This study provides a detailed analysis of subspecialty fellowship training completion trends and demographics among U.S. academic neurosurgeons.