Women GPs save far more lives by following the rules and connecting with their patients

December 20, 2016

A Harvard study has found female doctors save far more lives than men
It is the first study to compare how men and women doctors affect mortality
They found we would save 32,000 more lives a year with just women doctors
The study credits the difference to female doctors’ communication skills

Mia De Graaf For Dailymail.com

Published:
11:49 EST, 19 December 2016

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Updated:
17:55 EST, 19 December 2016

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Patients are less likely to die if treated by a female doctor than a male doctor, an unprecedented study reveals.

A research team at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health found people treated by women are less likely to die within 30 days of admission.

They were also far less likely to be readmitted to hospital within 30 days of discharge.

In fact, the researchers estimated there would be 32,000 fewer deaths a year among Medicare patients alone if all doctors were female.

The study credits the outcomes to the fact that women are better at communicating with their patients, and tend to more closely follow the rules.

In good hands: A research team at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health found people treated by women are less likely to die within 30 days of admission

And yet, female physicians earn eight percent less than their male counterparts.

It is the first research to document differences in how male and female physicians treat patients result in different outcomes for hospitalized patients in the U.S.

Even the researchers admitted they were shocked by the staggering difference in outcomes.

‘The difference in mortality rates surprised us,’ said lead author Yusuke Tsugawa, research associate in the Department of Health Policy and Management.

‘The gender of the physician appears to be particularly significant for the sickest patients.

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‘These findings indicate that potential differences in practice patterns between male and female physicians may have important clinical implications.’

Previous studies have found differences in the way female and male physicians practice.

For example, female physicians are more likely to adhere to clinical guidelines and provide more patient-centered communication.

But this is the first national study to look at whether the differences in the way male and female physicians practice affect clinical outcomes.

The researchers analyzed data from more than 1 million Medicare beneficiaries age 65 years or older hospitalized with a medical condition and treated by general internists between 2011 and 2014.

They adjusted for differences in patient and physician characteristics, and considered whether differences in patient outcomes varied by specific condition or by severity of illness.

The researchers found that the patients, if treated by a female physician, had a 4 percent lower relative risk of dying prematurely and a 5 percent lower relative risk of being readmitted to a hospital within 30 days.

The association was seen across a wide variety of clinical conditions and variations in severity of illness.

When the researchers restricted their analysis to hospitalists (physicians focused on hospital care), the results remained consistent.

That, they said, suggests that patient selection, in which healthier patients might choose certain types of doctors, didn’t explain the results.

Female physicians now account for approximately one third of the U.S. physician workforce and comprise half of all U.S. medical school graduates.

There are important gender differences in how women physicians are treated – they are less likely to be promoted and are generally paid less, said senior author Ashish Jha, K.T. Li Professor of Health Policy and director of the Harvard Global Health Institute.

‘There was ample evidence that male and female physicians practice medicine differently,’ Dr Jha said.

‘Our findings suggest that those differences matter and are important to patient health.

‘We need to understand why female physicians have lower mortality so that all patients can have the best possible outcomes, irrespective of the gender of their physician.’