ArticleAnnals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England2022
Differential attainment, socioeconomic factors and surgical training.
Article in Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Differential attainment within medical education: a systematic review.BMC medical education · 2025Pooled it
- Factors predicting operative exposure among UK urology trainees: a national analysis from 2010 to 2024.BJU international · 2026Article
- Reframing Maslow to Comprehensively Consider the Needs of All Trainees.Perspectives on medical education · 2026Article
- Differential attainment in assessment of postgraduate surgical trainees: a scoping review.BMC medical education · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionDifferential attainment (DA) is the gap in levels of achievement between different groups; socioeconomic factors are thought to play a significant role in DA. The aim of this study was to review and assess the evidence for DA in early surgical training and to examine the potential influence of socioeconomic status.
methodsData were obtained from the General Medical Council GMC for those taking Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS) examinations between 2016 and 2019 and core surgical training annual review of competency progression (ARCP) outcomes between 2017 and 2019. The index of multiple deprivation (IMD) was used as a measure of socioeconomic background. Trainees were then divided into deprivation quintiles (DQ1=most deprived, DQ5=least deprived). MRCS and ARCP outcomes were compared between DQ groups using 95% confidence intervals and chi-square tests.
resultsThose from lower socioeconomic backgrounds had significantly lower overall MRCS pass rates (DQ1=45.5%, DQ2=48.9% vs DQ4=59.6%, DQ5=61.5%,
conclusionsThere is clear evidence of the influence of socioeconomic background on DA in early surgical training. However, the reasons for this are likely complex and more work is required to investigate this relationship.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.