Women have been involved in surgery throughout history. However, despite the fact that there are now as many female medical students compared with male students in universities, men still significantly outnumber women in a number of procedural specialties, most notably surgery. This article discusses the factors that can influence women’s choice of surgical career, and the challenges and discrimination that women can face as surgeons. There is a strong argument for substantive policy change at the individual, organizational, and governmental level to reduce gendered discrimination and gendered stereotypes in surgery. We call upon all organizations involved in surgery, and particularly in the emerging field of global surgery, to actively work toward equity.

Purpose. The occurrence of incisional hernia (IH) is one of the main complications after open abdominal surgery. However, its incidence in hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery are not known. Studies on partial hepatectomy and necrotizing pancreatitis show that the incidence can reach up to 42%. This study aims at evaluating the incidence of IH and its risk factors. Methods. Patients submitted to open hepato-pancreato-biliary surgery at our Center between 2010 and 2016 were selected. IH was defined as discontinuity in the abdominal fascia reported during physical examination or on computed tomography. Variables analysed range from individual characteristics and medical history to surgical and postoperative aspects. Results. The cumulative incidence of IH was 14.6% at 36 months. In pancreatic patients, this incidence was 11.6%, while hepatobiliary patients presented an incidence of 16.0%, reaching 27,0% at 72 months. Cox regression showed that height (p=0.028), subcutaneous fat (p=0.037), wound dehiscence (p=0.001) and superficial surgical site infection (p=0.001) correlate positively with IH in pancreatic surgery patients. BMI (p=0.037) and perirenal fat (p=0.043) associated independently with IH in patients submitted to hepatobiliary surgery. Conclusions. Height, obesity and wound complications are risk factors for IH in patients submitted to pancreatic surgery, whereas obesity presents as risk factor in hepatobiliary surgery patients. The incidence of IH goes up to 12% in patients submitted to pancreatic surgery, while this risk is higher in the hepatobiliary group (27%). It is suggested the adoption of strategies in the clinical practice which prevent this high incidence, namely in high-risk patients.

Background Although overall health status in the last decades improved, health inequalities due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) persist between and within European countries. There is a lack of studies giving insights into health inequalities related to NCDs in the European Economic Area (EEA) countries. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to quantify health inequalities in age-standardized disability adjusted life years (DALY) rates for NCDs overall and 12 specific NCDs across 30 EEA countries between 1990 and 2019. Also, this study aimed to determine trends in health inequalities and to identify those NCDs where the inequalities were the highest. Methods DALY rate ratios were calculated to determine and compare inequalities between the 30 EEA countries, by sex, and across time. Annual rate of change was used to determine the differences in DALY rate between 1990 and 2019 for males and females. The Gini Coefficient (GC) was used to measure the DALY rate inequalities across countries, and the Slope Index of Inequality (SII) to estimate the average absolute difference in DALY rate across countries. Results Between 1990 and 2019, there was an overall declining trend in DALY rate, with larger declines among females compared to males. Among EEA countries, in 2019 the highest NCD DALY rate for both sexes were observed for Bulgaria. For the whole period, the highest DALY rate ratios were identified for digestive diseases, diabetes and kidney diseases, substance use disorders, cardiovascular diseases (CVD), and chronic respiratory diseases – representing the highest inequality between countries. In 2019, the highest DALY rate ratio was found between Bulgaria and Iceland for males. GC and SII indicated that the highest inequalities were due to CVD for most of the study period – however, overall levels of inequality were low. Conclusions The inequality in level 1 NCDs DALYs rate is relatively low among all the countries. CVDs, digestive diseases, diabetes and kidney diseases, substance use disorders, and chronic respiratory diseases are the NCDs that exhibit higher levels of inequality across countries in the EEA. This might be mitigated by applying tailored preventive measures and enabling healthcare access.