Study Finds Lower Mortality Rates with Female Doctors
Research involving over 700,000 elderly hospitalized patients has revealed that those treated by female doctors have better outcomes. Specifically, patients with female doctors had lower chances of dying within 30 days of admission or being readmitted within 30 days of discharge, compared to those treated by male doctors.
The effect was more significant for female patients, with 8.15% of women dying under female doctor care versus 8.38% under male doctor care. For male patients, the difference was 10.15% versus 10.23%.
Researchers suggest several reasons for this difference, including potential underestimation of illness severity by male doctors treating female patients, as well as better communication and rapport between female doctors and female patients.
This finding aligns with previous studies, including a 2016 study that showed lower mortality and readmission rates among patients treated by female doctors. However, researchers note that male doctors tended to treat more patients overall.
The findings highlight the ongoing issue of gender health gap, where women often experience poorer health outcomes than men due to factors like misogyny and lack of research on women’s health issues. Understanding and addressing these disparities is crucial for improving healthcare outcomes for all patients.
