Hospital patients ‘less likely to die’ when treated by female doctors
Research from UCLA have breathed life into the phrase ‘the future is female’ after experts found female patients have higher survival rates if treated by women doctors.
The study, which was published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, looked at Medicare claims data between 2016 and 2019 for more than 458,000 women patients and over 319,000 male counterparts. From this, researchers found the mortality rate from female patients was 8.15% when treated by women physicians as opposed to 8.38% when the doctor was male.
What’s more, is experts discovered the mortality rate for male patients treated by female doctors was 10.15% and 10.23% for male physicians.
Researchers unearthed the same pattern for hospital readmission rates.
Commenting on the findings, Professor Yusuke Tsugawa, one of the authors, said patient outcomes wouldn’t differ depending on what gender their doctor was if everyone practiced medicine in the same way.
‘What our findings indicate is that female and male physicians practice medicine differently, and these differences have a meaningful impact on patients’ health outcomes,’ Professor Tsugawa said. ‘Further research on the underlying mechanisms linking physician gender with patient outcomes, and why the benefit of receiving the treatment from female physicians is larger for female patients, has the potential to improve patient outcomes across the board.’
Although the data can’t specifically pinpoint why female patients better respond to women physicians, researchers cited several factors that could be driving disparities including ‘miscommunication’ and male doctors underestimating the severity of their female patients’ illness.
Against this backdrop, previous studies have suggested male doctors undermine pain levels associated with cardiovascular symptoms and gastrointestinal problems, which can lead to delays in accessing treatment.
Professor Tsugawa added: ‘A better understanding of this topic could lead to the development of interventions that effectively improve patient care.
‘It is important to note that female physicians provide high-quality care, and therefore, having more female physicians benefits patients from a societal point-of-view.’
Image: TopSphere Media
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