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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · J Reconstr Microsurg Open 2023; 08(02): e125-e132
DOI: 10.1055/a-2162-0604
Original Article

Industry Payments and Academic Influence in Reconstructive Microsurgery

Ila Sethi
1   Division of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York
,
Joseph A. Mellia
2   Division of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York
,
Alexander I. Murphy
3   Division of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California
,
Fortunay Diatta
4   Division of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
,
Paul Asadourian
5   Division of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Columbia University, New York, New York
,
John P. Fischer
6   Division of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
,
Saïd C. Azoury
6   Division of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
,
Duc T. Bui
1   Division of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York
› Author Affiliations Funding None.
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Abstract

Background Financial relationships between industry and microsurgeons help facilitate innovation but have the potential to bias a surgeon's academic work. To better understand industry–academic relationships, this study investigated the association between industry payments made to microsurgeons and their academic influence.

Methods A cross-sectional analysis of microsurgeons at Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education–accredited plastic surgery residency programs during the 2020–2021 academic year was performed. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Open Payments Database was used to collect industry payments (research and nonresearch related) to each surgeon. Academic influence was measured by Hirsch index (h-index) and number of publications. Mann–Whitney's U and Kruskal–Wallis' tests were used for statistical analysis.

Results Of the 199 microsurgeons identified, 156 (78.39%) received an industry nonresearch payment, but 0 (0.0%) received an industry research payment. Surgeons who received any amount of industry payments did not have a higher mean h-index or higher mean number of publications than surgeons with no industry payments. However, surgeons with total industry payments more than $10,000 (n = 15) had a higher number of publications than surgeons with no industry payments (135.47 vs. 36.02, p = 0.0074), $1 to $1,000 in payments (135.47 vs. 34.37, p = 0.0006), and $1,000 to $10,000 in payments (135.47 vs. 45.43, p = 0.0268). Surgeons with total industry payments more than $10,000 also had higher h-indices than surgeons with $1 to $1,000 in payments (24.4 vs. 10.34, p = 0.0039) and $1,000 to $10,000 in payments (24.4 vs. 11.34, p = 0.0413).

Conclusion Industry funding is associated with higher h-index and higher number of publications for high earners (> $10,000). Private companies may favor these surgeons for their academic expertise.

Keywords

industry funding - microsurgery - surgical innovation - academic surgeon - plastic surgery


Publication History

Received: 06 November 2022

Accepted: 31 July 2023

Accepted Manuscript online:
29 August 2023

Article published online:
26 December 2023

© 2023. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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