Differences in international medical graduates’ letters of recommendation by gender in pulmonary and critical care medicine: a cohort analysis

BACKGROUND: International Medical Graduates (IMGs) encounter barriers as they seek to match into fellowship programs in the United States (US). This study’s objective is to determine if there are differences in letters of recommendation written for IMGs compared to U.S. Medical Graduates (USMGs) applying to pulmonary and critical care medicine (PCCM) fellowship programs. METHODS: All applications submitted to a PCCM fellowship program in 2021 were included in this study. The applicant demographics and accomplishments were mined from applications. The gender of letter writers was identified by the author’s pronouns on professional websites. Word count and language differences in the letters were analyzed for each applicant using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LWIC2015) program. Multivariable linear regressions were performed controlling for applicant characteristics to identify if IMG status was associated with total word count and degree of support, measured by a composite outcome encompassing several categories of adjectives, compared to USMG status. RESULTS: Of the 573 applications, most of the applicants were USMGs (72%, N = 334/573). When adjusting for applicant characteristics, IMG applicants had shorter letters of recommendation (87.81 total words shorter 95% CI: − 118.61, − 57.00, p-value < 0.01) and less supportive letters (4.79 composite words shorter 95% CI: − 6.61, − 2.97, p-value < 0.01), as compared to USMG applicants. Notably, female IMG applicants had the biggest difference in their word counts compared to USMG applicants when the letter writer was a man. CONCLUSIONS: IMG applicants to a PCCM fellowship received shorter and less supportive letters of recommendation compared to USMG applicants. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12909-023-04042-5.