25 Apr UCLA Study Finds Patients Treated By Female Physicians Have Better Outcomes and Fewer Readmissions
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Tsugawa
Yusuke Tsugawa, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Medicine & Health Policy and Management, UCLA
Director of Data Core, UCLA Department of Medicine Statistics Core
Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Los Angeles, CA 90024
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Prior studies have found that female and male physicians practice medicine differently. For example, female physicians are, on average, more likely to abide by clinical guidelines and spend more time listening to patients. However, evidence was limited as to whether such differences have clinically meaningful impact on patients’ health outcomes, which was the aim of this study.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?
Response: We analyzed the data on approximately 770,000 patents hospitalized for a medical condition, and found that patients treated by female physicians experienced lower mortality and readmission rates than those cared for by male physicians, and the benefit of receiving treatment from female physicians was greater for female patients than for male patients.
MedicalResearch.com: Did the severity of illness or difficulty of procedures differ between the two groups?
Response: No, they were not different between two groups of physicians. Given that hospitalists typically work in shifts or blocks, patients were plausibly randomly assigned to a hospitalist on call, and therefore, patient characteristics such as the severity of illness did not differ between female and male physicians.
MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?
Response: We don’t believe patients should choose female physicians over male physicians, as there is greater variation among physicians within the same sex than between sexes. It is important to consider multiple factors about physicians, such as their clinical experience and training, your prior experiences with them, and their communication style, rather than focusing solely on the physician’s sex.
MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a results of this study?
Response: Our findings indicate that female physicians provide high-quality care to patients. Future research is warranted to better understand the differential practice patterns between female and male physicians, including guideline concordance and communication style, which lead to better patient outcomes for female physicians.
I have no conflict of interest to disclose.
Citation: Atsushi Miyawaki, Anupam B. Jena, Lisa S. Rotenstein, et al. Comparison of Hospital Mortality and Readmission Rates by Physician and Patient Sex. Ann Intern Med. [Epub 23 April 2024]. doi:10.7326/M23-3163
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Last Updated on April 25, 2024 by Marie Benz MD FAAD