Sports medicine as a specialty grew significantly from 2016 to 2021, while pulmonary disease fell most, 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 U.S. 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.
Here are five specialties that saw the most growth between 2016 and 2021, based on percent changes in the number of active physicians:
Sports medicine — up 42.5 percent
2016: 2,252 active physicians
2021: 3,208 active physicians
Pediatric anesthesiology — up 37.7 percent
2016: 2,065
2021: 2,843
Interventional cardiology — up 32.6 percent
2016: 3,572
2021: 4,736
Critical care medicine — up 30.1 percent
2016: 10,883
2021: 14,159
Sports medicine (orthopedic surgery) — up 26 percent
2016: 2,432
2021: 3,065
Five specialties that saw the most decline between 2016 and 2021:
Pulmonary disease — down 10.8 percent
2016: 5,456
2021: 4,867
Anatomic/clinical pathology — down 7.7 percent
2016: 13,201
2021: 12,180
Orthopedic surgery — down 3.7 percent
2016: 19,174
2021: 18,469
Radiology and diagnostic radiology — down 2.4 percent
2016: 27,852
2021: 27,197
General surgery — down 2.2 percent
2016: 25,449
2021: 24,881