WOFAPS 2025 8th World Congress of Pediatric Surgery

Rafia Durrani ¹, Javeria Javed ¹, Muhammad Osama Khan ¹, Humza Thobani ², Saleem Islam ¹, Faraz A . Khan ²

¹ Section of Pediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan
² Division of Pediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California

Purpose

Databases and clinical registries have advanced pediatric surgical research by aggregating multicenter data that enables the study of rare conditions and outcomes often underpowered in single-center studies. However, little is known about which databases are most used, which subspecialties they support, or which journals prefer publishing database-driven research. This study aimed to map these trends in US-based databases and identify key patterns in the literature.

Methods

Scopus was used as the primary platform for search. A search strategy was formulated incorporating names of all existing US databases for pediatric surgical research and all articles were then screened for relevance. Relevant data like the year of publication, citation count, funding status, open access availability, database used and surgical subspecialty at focus were manually extracted. Findings were summarized using descriptive statistics and associations were assessed using statistical tests where appropriate.

Results

A total of 1,541 articles were identified from 2003 to 2024. Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) was the most utilized (n=684), followed by the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP, n=439) and the Kids’ Inpatient Database (KID, n=274). Most studies focused on pediatric general and thoracic surgery (n=644), followed by cardiovascular (n=167) and otorhinolaryngology (n=158). Journal of Pediatric Surgery published the most studies (n=213), followed by Journal of Surgical Research (n=88) and Pediatric Surgery International (n=35). Journal of Pediatric Surgery consistently published database-based research since the early 2000s, while the other two saw a surge beginning around 2017. No statistically significant association was found between journal impact factor and citation count.

Conclusion

Database-driven pediatric surgical research has markedly increased over the past two decades, with growing diversity in subspecialty focus and publication platforms. Understanding these patterns can guide research dissemination, journal targeting, and highlight the expanding role of large-scale data in shaping pediatric surgical research and care.