Poll of the Day > Women are less likely to die when treated by female doctors

(+) Yeah! (+)

Hospitalized women are less likely to die or be readmitted to the hospital if they are treated by female doctors, a study published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine found.

In the study of people ages 65 and older, 8.15% of women treated by female physicians died within 30 days, compared with 8.38% of women treated by male physicians.

Although the difference between the two groups seems small, the researchers say erasing the gap could save 5,000 womens lives each year.

The study included nearly 800,000 male and female patients hospitalized from 2016 through 2019. All patients were covered by Medicare. For male hospitalized patients, the gender of the doctor didnt appear to have an effect on risk of death or hospital readmission.

The data alone doesnt explain why women fare better when treated by other women. But other studies suggest that women are less likely to experience miscommunication, misunderstanding and bias when treated by female doctors, said lead study author Dr. Atsushi Miyawaki, a senior assistant professor of health services research at the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine.

The new research is part of a growing field of study examining why women and minorities tend to receive worse medical care than men and white patients. For example, women and minority patients are up to 30% more likely to be misdiagnosed than white men.

Our pain and our symptoms are often dismissed, said Dr. Megan Ranney, dean of the Yale School of Public Health. It may be that women physicians are more aware of that and are more empathetic.

Research shows that women are less likely than men to receive intensive care but more likely to report having negative experiences with health care, having their concerns dismissed, and having their heart or pain symptoms ignored, the authors wrote in the new study. Male physicians are also more likely than female doctors to underestimate womens risk of stroke.

Part of the problem, Miyawaki said, is that medical students get limited training in womens health issues.

Dr. Ronald Wyatt, who is Black, said his 27-year-old daughter recently had trouble getting an accurate diagnosis for her shortness of breath. An emergency room physician told her the problem was caused by asthma. It took two more trips to the emergency room for his daughter to learn that she actually had a blood clot in her lungs, a potentially life-threatening situation.

There is a tendency for doctors to harbor sexist stereotypes about women, regardless of age, such as the notion that womens symptoms are more emotional or their pain is less severe or more psychological in origin, said Wyatt, former chief science and chief medical officer at the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine, a nonprofit research and advocacy group.

Women seem to experience fewer of these problems when treated by other women.

For example, a study published JAMA Surgery in 2021 found that women patients developed fewer complications if their surgeon was female. Another JAMA Surgery study published in 2023 found all patients had fewer complications and shorter hospital stays if they were operated on by female surgeons, who worked more slowly than their male counterparts.

Women primary care doctors also tend to spend more time with their patients, Ranney said. Although that extra attention is great for patients, it also means that women see fewer patients per day and earn less, on average, than male doctors.

Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, said several studies suggest that female doctors follow medical evidence and guidelines, and that their patients have better outcomes.

Theres lots of variation between women and men physicians, said Jha, who was not involved in the new study. Women tend to be better at communication, listening to patients, speaking openly. Patients report that communication is better. You put these things together, and you can understand why there are small but important differences.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-care/women-are-less-likely-die-treated-female-doctors-study-suggests-rcna148254

so are we calling this politics? i don't really know the rules anymore.

Curiously, I'd like to know what the female mods think of your question, versus the male ones.

I suspect that is because women doctors are probably better and more attentive than their male counterparts. It would be interesting to see if men treated by women doctors also have similar statistical boost.

I have seen enough women complain that their doctors told them it is probably just period pain or pregnancy that I am not surprised.

It's almost always "anxiety" or "your cycle" lol. Doctors just don't want to do work to figure things out.

I was going to expand on why this doesn't surprise me, but the article pretty much says everything I would, so I guess I'm just saying this doesn't surprise me and leaving it at that.

__starsnostars posted...

It would be interesting to see if men treated by women doctors also have similar statistical boost.

McSame_as_Bush posted...

For male hospitalized patients, the gender of the doctor didnt appear to have an effect on risk of death or hospital readmission.

It's a one-off line, but they looked at that as well.

I was going to say that gap is small, but 5,000 lives a year is something.

But yeah, it seems male doctors not being in tune with female patient needs as well.

CyborgSage00x0 posted...

I was going to say that gap is small, but 5,000 lives a year is something.

But yeah, it seems male doctors not being in tune with female patient needs as well.

It's not "not being in tune" it's that there is misinformation taught and a lack of sympathy and empathy.

curious why the study didn't include people under 65 to give some broader results, but this sounds about right.

ItIsSoOver posted...

curious why the study didn't include people under 65 to give some broader results, but this sounds about right.

I'd guess that's mostly because they used Medicare data (at least, I'm assuming "all patients were covered by Medicare" isn't a coincidence) and therefore didn't have any information on patients under 65. It also wouldn't surprise me if it's hard to find a statistically significant number of people under 65 dying within 30 days of being released from the hospital, but that's just conjecture.

Fellas ain't shit but bad doctors and tricks