Ninety-one percent of actively practicing sports medicine specialists are younger than 55, according to the Association of American Medical College's "2022 Physician Specialty Data Report."
The report is based on data from the American Medical Association, the Census Bureau, and a national resident database and tracking system. Overall, it covers about 950,000 physicians and physicians-in-training among 48 of the largest specialties in 2021, according to a Jan. 12 AAMC news release.
Here are the 10 specialties with the highest proportion of physicians younger than 55:
1. Sports medicine: 2,916 (91 percent)
2. Pediatric anesthesiology: 2,543 (89.4 percent)
3. Interventional cardiology: 3,973 (83.9 percent)
4. Internal medicine/pediatrics: 4,748 (83.3 percent)
5. Sports medicine (orthopedic surgery): 2,429 (79.3 percent)
6. Critical care: 10,797 (76.3 percent)
7. Clinical cardiac electrophysiology: 1,945 (73.9 percent)
8. Vascular and interventional radiology: 2,960 (73.8 percent)
9 (tie). Neuroradiology: 3,153 (73.1 percent)
9 (tie). Pediatric critical care: 2,028 (73.1 percent)
By comparison, nine out of 10 actively practicing pulmonologists are older than 55.
Here are the 10 specialties with the highest proportion of physicians older than 55:
1. Pulmonary disease: 4,496 (92.4 percent)
2. Preventive medicine: 4,672 (71.4 percent)
3. Clinical pathology: 8,628 (70.9 percent)
4. Cardiovascular disease: 14,448 (64.9 percent)
5. Thoracic surgery: 2,790 (62.7 percent)
6. Psychiatry: 23,645 (61.6 percent)
7. Orthopedic surgery: 11,191 (60.6 percent)
8. Neurology: 8,214 (59.3 percent)
9. Plastic surgery: 4,120 (57 percent)
10. Anesthesiology: 24,029 (56.9 percent)