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.

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Source: The Independent, 22 April 2024