Hospital patients treated by women doctors are ‘less likely to die’

Hospital patients who are treated by women doctors are less likely to die and to be readmitted, a new study has found.

Research, by UCLA, discovered the health of female patients is more advantaged by treatment from women doctors than it is for men.

The study, published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, found the mortality rate for female patients was 8.15 per cent when treated by women physicians in comparison to 8.38 per cent when the doctor was male – which researchers deem a “clinically significant” difference.

Meanwhile, the mortality rate for male patients treated by female doctors was 10.15 per cent – less than the 10.23 per cent rate for male physicians. Researchers unearthed the same pattern for hospital readmission rates.

Professor Yusuke Tsugawa, one of the authors, said patient outcomes between male and female physicians would not be different if the professionals 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,” he 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.”

The study looked at Medicare claims data between 2016 and 2019 for more than 458,000 women patients and over 319,000 male counterparts.

Researchers cited several factors that could be driving the disparities between male and female doctors – saying the gulf may be linked to male doctors underestimating the severity of their female patients’ illness.

Previous studies suggested male doctors underestimate their female patients’ pain levels, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular symptoms, as well as stroke risk, which can lead to delays in accessing treatment or receiving incomplete care.

Researchers also said the mortality gap could be linked to women doctors being better able to communicate with their female patients, raising the chances of patients disclosing key information which in turn boosts diagnosis and treatment.

Female patients may be more comfortable with receiving sensitive examinations and engaging in detailed conversations with female doctors, the study also suggested.

But researchers called for more studies to be conducted to discern more about the differences in both the medicine and care which male and female doctors provide.

Professor Tsugawa, of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, said: “A better understanding of this topic could lead to the development of interventions that effectively improve patient care.”

He added: “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.”

There are a number of studies that show women’s pain is often taken far less seriously than that of men. While previous data demonstrates women are not only forced to spend longer stretches of time waiting in emergency departments but are also less likely to be prescribed effective painkillers than men.

Additional reporting by SWNS