Female practitioners have a stronger track record in reducing mortality rates and hospital readmission statistics compared to their male counterparts. That’s the conclusion of a study published today in the highly esteemed Annals of Internal Medicine journal.
In their research, the authors found significant differences in patient outcomes based on the gender of the treating physician.
“Our findings suggest that the way medicine is practiced varies between female and male doctors, and these differences significantly impact patients’ health outcomes,” commented Dr. Yusuke Tsugawa, a senior author of the study, and an Associate Professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research at the David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles.
“Further exploring the underlying reasons linking physician gender with patient outcomes, and why the benefit of female physician treatment is larger for female patients, could potentially enhance patient outcomes across the board,” he added.
The research team analyzed Medicare claims data from 2016 to 2019, which included over 458,100 female patients and more than 318,800 male patients. Approximately 31% of patients from both genders were treated by a female doctor.
The mortality rate for female patients treated by a female doctor was 8.15%, compared to 8.38% when treated by a male physician. Among male patients, the mortality rate was 10.15% when cared for by female doctors, compared to 10.23% for male doctors. The researchers consider these differences to be clinically significant.
The research team speculated that various factors could explain the differential outcomes between female and male practitioners.
“In different fields of medicine, there are discrepancies in care delivery between male and female physicians. Female doctors generally spend more time with their patients, devote more time to shared medical decision-making and partnership discussions than their male counterparts,” explained Dr. Lisa Rotenstein, a co-author of the study and an Assistant Professor and Medical Director at the University of California, San Francisco.
“Outpatient setting evidence shows that female doctors spend more time on the electronic health record than their male counterparts and deliver superior care quality,” added Rotenstein. “In surgery, female physicians take longer on surgical procedures and have lower rates of postoperative readmissions. We should contemplate how to offer the training and incentives to enable all doctors to emulate the care provided by female physicians.”
In 2022, the latest available data, women accounted for 37% of doctors practicing in the United States. Pediatrics (65%) and hospice and palliative medicine (62%) were specialties with the highest percentage of female practitioners. Conversely, sports medicine and orthopedic surgery had the lowest percentage of female doctors (7% and 6%, respectively).
The new study adds to the growing body of research indicating that patient outcomes improve when care is provided by female doctors.
Christopher Wallis, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor in the Division of Urology at the University of Toronto, has conducted research on postoperative outcomes based on the gender of both the surgeon and patient. He was not surprised by the findings of this study.
“Numerous studies across many fields of medicine have shown enhanced outcomes (whether mortality, readmissions, or other factors) among patients treated by female physicians. These data corroborate those findings,” Wallis, who wasn’t involved in the current study, told Medical News Today.
“Clearly, there will always be variation between physicians. What we are seeing here is a systematic difference in which patients treated by female physicians fare better than those cared for by male physicians,” he added. “This is not surprising to me for several reasons. Firstly, data spanning several decades reveals that women and men practice medicine differently, with particular differences in communication styles and adherence to guidelines. It’s unsurprising to see these differences reflected in patient outcomes. Secondly, women in medicine (and more widely in society) are arguably held to a higher standard than men. This is particularly pronounced in surgery and may explain some of the differences we’ve seen.”
Given that female doctors comprise just over a third of all practicing physicians in the United States, the experts interviewed by Medical News Today hope that male physicians will reflect on their practice and consider areas for improvement.
“I would love for male physicians to take these data seriously and introspect about their own practices. There is often a tendency to dismiss data like these as they are uncomfortable or may seem threatening. However, such a response will not benefit patients,” said Dr. Arghavan Salles, a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at Stanford University in California, who was not involved in the study.
“If instead, male doctors can approach these data with curiosity as to why patients may have worse outcomes in their care, they may begin to identify how to enhance the care they provide,” she suggested. “For instance, a study of surgeons performing cholecystectomies found that patients had better outcomes when their surgeon was female, rather than male. One of the findings in that study was that surgery took a few minutes longer when performed by female surgeons. Was that additional time spent double-checking, ensuring everything was fine before the end of the procedure? Was that time spent performing more careful dissection to try to prevent complications? That study did not answer those questions, but they are things to consider.”
