Researchers came to this remarkable conclusion after examining data from more than 700,000 people. Those with a female doctor were found not only to have a lower risk of death, but also a lower risk of being readmitted to hospital.
This can be read in the magazine Annals of Internal Medicine. The research article is the work of Japanese and American researchers. The scientists collected data from 776,927 people over 65 who were hospitalized between 2016 and 2019. The researchers were particularly curious whether a link could be found between the health outcomes of these patients and the gender of their doctor.
Risk of death and new hospital admission
And that indeed turned out to be the case. Because compared to patients with a male doctor, patients who had a female doctor not only had a lower risk of death, but also a smaller chance of being readmitted to hospital. This applied to both male and female patients. But it is striking that the risk of death and rehospitalization for female patients with a female instead of a male doctor decreased much more than for male patients who had a female instead of a male doctor. In other words, overall, all patients with a female doctor had a lower chance of dying and being hospitalized, but female patients saw those chances decrease much more when they had a female doctor than male patients with a female doctor. doctor.
Not very surprising
According to researcher Atsushi Miyawaki, the finding that patients of female doctors have a lower risk of death and also a lower chance of being readmitted to hospital is not in itself very surprising. “We know from previous studies (…), for example, that admitted patients of female internists have better outcomes than patients of male internists. What is new is that the advantage that treatment by a female doctor seems to have is particularly great for female patients. And we think that may at least partly help explain why, on average, patients of female physicians have better health outcomes.”
Declaration
The research naturally raises the question of why female patients in particular benefit from treatment by a female doctor. The scientists cannot answer that question based on their study (see box).
The conclusions drawn by the researchers are based on a so-called observational study. This involves using (often large amounts of) data to look for connections. In this case, a possible link was sought between the health outcomes of patients and the gender of their doctor. The data shows that there is indeed a connection. But observational studies don’t go much further than that; they can show that two or more things are related, but do not reveal how those two things are related – or whether, for example, one underlies the other (and therefore there is a causal relationship).
Based on the data and research method, it is therefore only possible to conclude that there is a connection between the risk of death and the gender of the doctor, whereby female doctors can be associated with a smaller risk of patient death, especially if those patients themselves be of the female gender. Why that is remains shrouded in mystery. But researchers dare to speculate cautiously about it – partly based on previous studies. “We believe that female patients treated by a female physician (compared to female patients treated by a male physician) experience less gender bias at the time their symptoms are assessed or their disease is diagnosed, ” Miyawaki tells Scientias.nl. What exactly does the researcher mean by that? Male doctors may be (unconsciously) guided by prejudices about women when assessing symptoms or making diagnoses. For example: that they are more aggressive or have a lower pain threshold than men. And that can make making the correct diagnosis and starting the right treatment difficult and therefore reduce the chance of a good outcome. It could also be that female doctors communicate better with female patients, making those patients feel more invited to share the information needed to effectively address their health problem. These are just some possible, yet unproven, explanations for the fact that female patients with a female doctor generally have better health outcomes than female patients with a male doctor. “What may also play a role is the limited attention paid to women’s health issues within the general curriculum,” Miyawaki adds. “As a result, male doctors in particular may have a limited understanding of health problems that only women may encounter.”
Other countries
Although the study is based on patients in the US, Miyawaki is convinced that similar connections can also be found in other countries. He refers, among other things, to an earlier study conducted in Canada, which showed that female patients of female surgeons had better health outcomes than female patients of male surgeons. “We are currently considering investigating whether we also see such connections in other settings – for example primary care – and in other countries.”
In addition, more research is needed to better interpret the findings. “We would like to find out why there are differences between the health outcomes of patients with male and patients with female doctors. And we would like to understand why female patients benefit more from a female doctor than male patients.”
