Study Suggests That Patients Treated by Female Physicians Have a Higher Chance of Surviving

According to recent research, patients who are seen by female doctors have a lower risk of mortality and readmission. Research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that, compared to patients treated by male physicians, those with female doctors had lower rates of death and remission.
More than 318,800 male and 458,100 female patients hospitalized from 2016 to 2019 made up the more than 776,000 participants in the research. Medicare paid for everyone.

According to the research, “patients have lower mortality and readmission rates when treated by female physicians.” In contrast to 8.38% when seen by a male doctor, the death rate for female patients treated by a female doctor was 8.15%. A female doctor had a 10.15 percent death rate for male patients, while a male doctor had a 10.23 percent rate.

The percentage difference for women is deemed “clinically meaningful,” as pointed out by the researchers.

According to investigator Yusuke Tsugawa, “having more female physicians benefits patients from a societal point-of-view” since female doctors provide better treatment.

“More research on the mechanisms that connect the gender of doctors to patient outcomes and why female patients benefit more from seeing female doctors could improve outcomes for patients everywhere,” he said.

According to experts, female physicians devote more time to patient care, including consultations, record reviews, and actual treatments. On the subject of female patients, female doctors likely have superior communication skills and a more person-centered approach. The study’s authors speculated that female patients may feel less pressure, shame, and social and cultural stigma if they were seen by a female doctor during potentially invasive procedures.

We are aware that male and female doctors practice medicine differently across specialties. The study’s co-author, Dr. Lisa Rotenstein of the University of California San Francisco, who is also an assistant professor and medical director, told Medical News Today that female doctors spend more time interacting with patients, participating in partnership discussions, and making shared medical decisions than male doctors.

For several reasons, I am not surprised to see this. To start, research spanning decades has shown that male and female doctors use distinct communication styles and adhere to separate sets of guidelines while practicing medicine. The fact that these variations reflect the results seen by patients does not surprise me. Furthermore, it may be argued that women are held to a higher standard than men, both in society at large and in the medical field in particular. The variations we’ve found there could be explained, in part, by this amplified phenomenon in surgery, according to Dr. Christopher Wallis of the University of Toronto’s division of urology.

This new study adds to the expanding body of literature that investigates the racial and ethnic disparities in health care access and quality. Research was published in January 2024 in the Journal of the American Medical Association’s Internal Medicine section that found “women and minority patients are up to 30% more likely to be misdiagnosed than white men,” stated NBC News.

Separate research from 2002 indicated that male physicians spent an average of 21 minutes with patients, whereas female doctors spent 23 minutes.