Gender Disparities in Income among Board-Certified Dermatologists

Although there is evidence that gender-based disparities exist in salary, academic rank, and other factors in several areas in medicine, limited data exist on differences between male and female dermatologists. Existing studies have focused on academic dermatologists, not including the vast majority of dermatologists who work in solo and group private practices. A cross-sectional self-reported survey eliciting total annual income and other factors was performed in the fall of 2018 in the United States. A total of 397 board-certified dermatologists (MDs/DOs) participated in this study, including 53.63% female and 46.37% male respondents. A statistically significant difference existed within total annual income between male and female dermatologists (P<.0001). Several factors were identified that demonstrated statistically significant differences between male and female dermatologists, including productivity, practice area of focus, type of fellowship training, and faculty rank. However, despite controlling for these variations, gender remained a statistically significant predictor of income on both univariate and multivariate regression analyses (P=.0002/P<.0001), indicating that a gender-based income disparity exists in the field of dermatology that cannot be explained by other factors.