Patients treated by female doctors are less likely to die and less likely to be re-hospitalized, a new study has found.
Research from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the US has found that treatment by female doctors is more beneficial to the health of female patients than treatment by male doctors.
The study, published in the scientific journal Annals of Internal Medicine, found that the mortality rate of female patients treated by female doctors was 8.15 percent, compared to 8.38 percent of those treated by male physicians. The researchers called this a “clinically significant” difference.
They also found that the mortality rate for male patients treated by female doctors was 10.15 percent, lower than the 10.23 percent rate for those treated by male physicians. The same pattern was seen in hospital readmission rates, the researchers found.
Speaking about the study, which he co-authored, faculty member Yusuke Tsugawa said that if male and female doctors practiced medical practices in the same way, the outcomes for patients would not be different.
“Our findings suggest that female and male physicians practice medical practices differently and that these differences have a significant impact on patients’ health outcomes,” Tsugawa said.
Further research into the mechanisms underlying the link between physician gender and patient outcomes, and the reasons why female patients benefit more from receiving treatment from female doctors, has the potential to improve patient outcomes overall.
The study examined Medicare (the US national health insurance program) healthcare data on more than 458,000 women and 319,000 men between 2016 and 2019.
Researchers listed several factors that could account for the differences between male and female doctors, and said the gap could be linked to male doctors underestimating the seriousness of their female patients’ health problems.
Previous studies have suggested that male doctors underestimate their female patients’ pain levels and gastrointestinal and cardiovascular symptoms, as well as stroke risk, which can lead to delayed or incomplete treatment.
The researchers also noted that the mortality gap may be linked to the fact that female doctors are better able to communicate with their female patients, making them more likely to disclose key information. This communication helps support diagnosis and treatment.
The study also suggested that female patients may feel more comfortable with female doctors during sensitive examinations and detailed conversations.
However, the researchers called for further studies to better understand the differences between the medicines and treatment provided by male and female doctors.
Tsugawa, a faculty member at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, said:
A better understanding of this issue could lead to the development of interventions that effectively improve patient treatment.
It is worth noting that female doctors provide high quality treatment and therefore having more female doctors is socially beneficial to patients.
A number of studies have shown that women’s pain is generally taken much less seriously than men’s. Previous data showed that women had longer waits in emergency rooms and were less likely to be prescribed effective painkillers than men.
SWNS was also utilized.
