Tokyo: Hospitalized women are less likely to die when their doctor is also a woman, a new study has found.
According to media reports, the study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, included treating physicians and patients age 65 and older.
The study found that 8.15 percent of women aged 65 and over died within 30 days, compared to 8.38 percent of women treated by male doctors.
Study author Atsushi Miyawaki, a senior assistant professor at the University of Tokyo, said that while the difference between the two groups may seem small, if more female doctors were available than usual, the difference could close and save up to 5,000 women’s lives each year. can go
The professor added that this recent study did not clarify why this happens, but other studies in the past have shown that women face misunderstanding and prejudice when treated by male doctors.
The study included 800,000 men and women hospitalized from 2016 to 2019. It found that the gender of doctors had no significant effect on the treatment and outcome of hospitalized men, while it did not in the case of women.