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Is gender becoming relevant in uro-oncological research? A bibliographical analysis

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Abstract

Introduction

Gender differences are increasingly recognized as important in numerous diseases and found to be relevant in various cancer entities. While a larger number of manuscripts on gender effects in gastro-intestinal and pulmonary neoplasms have been published, urological malignancies involving men and women alike seem less studied in this regard. The present analysis aimed at describing the role of gender effects in general oncological and uro-oncological research and is the first such bibliometrical analysis.

Methods

The electronic database MEDLINE was searched for relevant medical subject headings from January 1991 to December 2011. Publication types, publishing journal and impact factors were identified. Trends were assessed by linear regression.

Results

The numbers of annual publications on all major tumour entities and on urological malignancies increased similarly. While the portion of publications on gender effects was below 1 % for each tumour entity, the annual increase of novel publications on gender effects was significant in most and prominent in pulmonary (1.87, 95 % CI 1.11–2.63; <0.0001) and colorectal neoplasms (2.16, 95 % CI 1.49–2.82; <0.0001). While the annual increase of novel publications on gender effects was significant in bladder cancer (0.33, 95 % CI 0.11–0.54; 0.005), it failed level of significance in renal cell cancer (0.25, 95 % CI −0.19–0.24; 0.82).

Conclusion

While the overall role of gender effect seems small in general oncological research, it is increasing steadily. In uro-oncological research, such trend is also visible in bladder but not in renal cell cancer. Respective awareness on importance of gender effects should be raised.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, University of Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany

    Frank Kunath, Bastian Keck & Bernd Wullich

  2. Institute of Pathology, University of Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany

    Simone Bertz & Arndt Hartmann

  3. Department of Urology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany

    Sabine Brookman-May

  4. Department of Urology, St. Elisabeth Clinic, Straubing, Germany

    Matthias May

  5. Department of Urology and Paediatric Urology, Julius-Maximilians University Medical Centre, Oberdürrbacher Straße 6, 97080, Würzburg, Germany

    Daniel Vergho, Hubertus Riedmiller & Maximilian Burger

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  1. Frank Kunath
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  2. Bastian Keck
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  3. Simone Bertz
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  4. Sabine Brookman-May
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  10. Maximilian Burger
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Correspondence to Maximilian Burger.

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Kunath, F., Keck, B., Bertz, S. et al. Is gender becoming relevant in uro-oncological research? A bibliographical analysis. World J Urol 31, 1065–1072 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00345-013-1069-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00345-013-1069-4

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