What is the fate of scientific abstracts presented at the International Society for Hip Arthroscopy meetings?

Publication rates for general sports medicine society meetings have been studied but little is known about the publication rate for subspecialty sports medicine meetings. The purpose of this study was to determine the publication rates of abstracts presented at the annual meeting of the International Society for Hip Arthroscopy (ISHA) from 2011 to 2014. A database of abstracts presented at the annual meetings of ISHA was compiled. Abstracts that reached manuscript publication were determined using a PubMed search of the Medline database and Google Scholar. Statistical analyses were primarily descriptive. A total of 220 podium abstracts and 454 posters were presented at ISHA annual meetings from 2011 to 2014. Of the 220 podium presentations, 118 (53.6%) were eventually published with 91.5% of these being published within 3 years. Of the 454 posters, 182 (40.1%) were published with 95.6% being published in 3 years. Podium presentations had a significantly higher publication rate (P < 0.001). Published podium and poster presentations were most frequently published in the Journal of Arthroscopy and Related Research (podium: 24.6%; poster: 28.6%). The overall publication rate of scientific abstracts presented at the Annual ISHA meeting approximates that of general sports medicine society meetings. Podium presentations are significantly more likely to be published than scientific research presented as poster. These findings may highlight the scientific and educational merit of content presented. Continued attention is needed to maintain and improve the quality of abstracts presented at ISHA meetings.