MEDICARE PATIENTS WITH FEMALE DOCTORS LIVE LONGER, HARVARD STUDY FINDS

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By Miriam Raftery

December 20, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) - If you’re a patient admitted to a hospital in the U.S., there is one factor that dramatically increases your odds of survival:  having a woman doctor.  Of 1.5 million hospitalized Medicare patients studied, those with women doctors were 4% more likely to survive at least 30 days.  

Doctors from Harvard University who conducted the survey found the results were so significant that they actually concluded that replacing male doctors with female physicians could save at least 32,000 lives each year.

The study was published by the Journal of the American Medical Association in Internal Medicine. It compared hospital mortality and readmission rates for Medicare patients of male versus female doctors.11.49 percent of patients treated by male doctors died within 30 days after being admitted to the hospital, versus 10.82 of the women’s patients.

The gender gap remained even after the study’s authors controlled for how sick patients were when they checked in, as well as the patients’ age, income, gender, the doctors’ experience levels, types of hospitals and other factors.

Women doctors’ patients fared better across a wide range of conditions ranging from pneumonia to sepsis.  In some conditions, the gap was even wider; over 25% of patients with sepsis died in the first 30 days after treatment by male doctors during their hospitalization, versus 23% of those treated by women doctors.  In fact, the odds of survival were higher for female doctors’ patients for every condition examined, though some were higher than others.

Researchers concluded that the differences were too big to be due to chance. Moreover, women doctors’ patients did better than male doctors’ patients, even though women doctors treat fewer hospitalized patients than their male counterparts.

The researchers even narrowed their analysis to look at only data from hospitalists—doctors who treat only patients in hospitals and who are randomly assigned to patients.  Once again, women did better at keeping their patients alive – with fewer deaths and also fewer readmissions within 30 days.

The study did not examine why women doctors’ patients have such significantly better outcomes than the patients of men doctors.  However, the Los Angeles Times reports that prior studies found women physicians are also more apt to provide preventive care, follow official clinical guidelines, practice evidence-based medicine and offer “psychosocial counseling,” than male physicians.

Male doctors on average earn significantly more than female doctors. One recent study of doctors at public medical schools found a $20,000 a year pay gap, the Washington Post reports.

The medical industry has long sought to justify that gap by arguing that women are less qualified than men, since women often work part-time and take time off for childbearing.

JAMA Internal Medicine editor Rita Redberg, a cardiologist, published an editorial with the study in which she concludes that the notion of superior male doctors is simply not true.

Currently, there are far more men than women physicians.  Offering female doctors as much or more in salaries than male doctors receive could encourage more women to enter the field – and save many lives.


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