BACKGROUND To determine whether gender-based differences may be present in letters of recommendation written for ophthalmology residency applicants. METHODS All applications submitted through SF Match to the UCLA Stein Eye Institute Residency Training Program from the 2017-2018 application cycle were analyzed using validated text analysis software (Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (Austin, TX)). The main outcome measures were differences in language use in letters of recommendation by gender of applicant. RESULTS Of 440 applicants, 254 (58%) were male and 186 (42%) were female. The two gender groups had similar United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) Step 1 scores, undergraduate grade point averages (uGPA's), proportions of underrepresented minority (URM) applicants and Gold Humanism Honor Society members, numbers of academic and service activities listed, and gender distributions of their letter writers (all P values > 0.05). However, letters written for male applicants were determined to use more "authentic" words than those written for female applicants (mean difference, 0.800; 95% CI, 0.001-1.590; P = 0.047). Letters written for male applicants also contained more "leisure" words (mean difference, 0.056; 95% CI, 0.008-0.104; P = 0.023) and fewer "feel" words (mean difference, 0.033; 95% CI, 0.001-0.065; P = 0.041) and "biological processes" words (mean difference, 0.157; 95% CI, 0.017-0.297; P = 0.028). CONCLUSIONS There were gender differences detected in recommendation letters in ophthalmology consistent with prior studies from other fields. Awareness of these differences may improve residency selection processes.

中文翻译：

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针对眼科住院医师的推荐信中基于性别的差异。

背景技术为了确定在眼科住院医师的推荐信中是否可能存在基于性别的差异。方法使用经过验证的文本分析软件（语言查询和字数统计（德克萨斯州奥斯汀）），分析从SF Match向UCLA Stein眼科学院住院医师培训计划（自2017-2018申请周期）提交的所有申请。主要结果指标是推荐信中使用语言的差异（按性别）。结果在440名申请人中，男性254名（58％），女性186名（42％）。这两个性别组的美国医学许可考试（USMLE）第1步得分，大学平均绩点（uGPA），未充分代表的少数族裔（URM）申请人和金人文荣誉学会会员的比例相似，列出的学术和服务活动数量，以及其来信作者的性别分布（所有P值> 0.05）。但是，确定为男性申请人写的信件使用的“真实”字词要多于为女性申请人写的信件（平均差为0.800； 95％CI为0.001-1.590； P = 0.047）。为男性申请人写的信中还包含更多的“休闲”词（均值差异为0.056； 95％CI，0.008-0.104； P = 0.023）和更少的“感觉”词（均值差异为0.033； 95％CI，0.001-0.065；等等）。 P = 0.041）和“生物过程”一词（均值，0.157； 95％CI，0.017-0.297； P = 0.028）。结论眼科推荐信中发现性别差异与其他领域的先前研究一致。