Can a Society Elevate the Quality of Research: A Look at the Proceedings of the Society of Gynecologic Surgeons' (SGS) Annual Conference Over the Years. An SGS Collaborative Research in Pelvic Surgery Consortium Study

The Society of Gynecologic Surgeons (SGS) disseminates knowledge and promotes excellence in gynecologic surgery through advancements in research and education. ¹ The Society's annual meeting platform allows members and trainees to come together to discuss ideas, share thoughts and innovations, and improve practices. As the Society matures and advances in its mission, we anticipated improvements in the quality of research shared at these annual conferences.

The SGS Collaborative Research in Pelvic Surgery Consortium (SGS CoRPS)—created out of a desire to advance gynecologic surgical research—is a group of investigators who conduct multicenter research. We aimed to evaluate the quality of research presented at SGS Annual Meetings between 2007 and 2021. We hypothesized that peer-reviewed work presented at SGS has grown in quality over time and that formalization of gynecologic subspecialties with the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) accreditation in 2011 would be associated with an improvement in the quality of all research presented at the annual meeting over time.

Available oral and oral poster presentations at the SGS Annual Meetings from 2007 to 2021 were reviewed by 2 data extractors, and discrepancies were adjudicated by a third investigator. Abstracts were categorized by study design as a surrogate for research quality based on the research pyramid (expert opinions, case series and reports, cross-sectional studies and surveys, case control studies, cohort studies, randomized controlled trials (RCTs), and systematic reviews and meta-analyses), by presentation type (oral versus oral poster presentations), and by research type (basic science or clinical research) and specialty/subspeciality. ²

We examined study quality based on subspecialty. We were interested in study quality of all abstracts before and after formal ABMS recognition of female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery (FPMRS) as a subspecialty in 2011. Our aim was to determine if formalization of a subspecialty affected all presented research. Data were described with percentages and compared with χ ² , using IBM SPSS Statistic for the Mac, version 25 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA).

Of 623 abstracts reviewed, 305 were oral and 318 were oral poster presentations. The number of abstracts presented per year ranged between 36 and 47. There were 200 (32%) presentations before and including 2011 and there were 423 (68%) after 2011. Most studies were cohort designs (36.1%), followed by case series or reports (27.7%), and RCTs (14.4%). Over the last 15 years, only 0.06% (n = 38) presentations were basic science, which did not increase over time. Subspecialty representation defined by study topic included: 423 (68%) FPMRS; 40 (9.6%) minimally invasive gynecologic surgery (MIGS); 114 (18%) gynecology; 20 (3.2%) gynecologic oncology; 1 (0.1%) reproductive endocrine infertility; and 5 (0.8%) other.

Over time, before 2011 versus after, the distribution of study type changed and RCT studies increased (p = 0.03). The number of high-level studies (cohorts and RCTs) for all study subspecialties improved after FPMRS ABMS accreditation in 2011. Before 2011, there was an average of 1.4 RCT and 9.6 cohort studies presented per year at SGS and, after 2011, there were an average of 6.4 RCTs and 10.3 cohort studies presented per year at SGS (p = 0.003).

The number of RCTs, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses presented at SGS annual meetings has steadily increased since 2007. FPRMS recognition as a subspecialty was associated with an increase in presentations with more-rigorous study designs. FPMRS has been the most-represented subspecialty at SGS annual scientific meetings in the past decade, likely driving the improvement of study designs after accreditation.

In conclusion, we found that the quality of science presented at the SGS Annual Meetings improved over a 14-year timespan. We attribute this change to the participation of SGS's membership and attendance at SGS annual conferences, which fuels interest in high-quality presentations, as well as the recognition of FPMRS as a certified subspecialty in obstetrics/gynecology. In addition, SGS's support of networks within the society—such as the Fellows' Pelvic Research Network (FPRN) formed in 2014 with its expansion to include Fellowship in Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery 3along with the Systematic Review Group and the recent addition of Collaborative Research in Pelvic Surgery Consortium (CoRPS)—all bring researchers from diverse institutions collaborating to achieve high-level science and advance the field. In addition, both FPRN and CoRPS under SGS's umbrella have made great efforts to expand research beyond FPMRS and encourage MIGS-driven studies improving representation from other surgical subspecialties.

Societies such as SGS provide a platform that moves the field forward in research, innovation, and patient care. We encourage general gynecologists as well as subspecialties to continue to participate in annual conferences to elevate the field of gynecology.