Undergoing surgery is never without risk. But there is an additional risk that women ignore: they are 32% more likely to die when they are operated on by a man and 15% more likely to suffer from post-operative complications. While there do not appear to be any additional risks for men operated on by women.
This observation was made by researchers from the University of Toronto (Canada) who studied the medical records of 1,320,108 patients treated by 2,937 surgeons. These patients underwent one of the twenty most common scheduled or emergency surgeries in Ontario, Canada between 2007 and 2019.
No more complications, hospital readmissions or deaths
Of these patients, 602,560 were of the same gender as their surgeon (male surgeon with male patient: 509,634; female surgeon with female patient: 92,926) while 717,548 were of different gender (male surgeon with female patient: 667,279; female surgeon with male patient: 50,269). In total, 14.9% of patients suffered postoperative complications that could lead to death, including a large majority of women operated on by male surgeons.
“The results of this study are troubling. When a female surgeon operates, patient outcomes are generally better, especially for women, even after adjusting for differences in chronic health status, age, and other factors, when they undergo the same procedures,” said Dr. Angela Jerath, epidemiologist at the University of Toronto and lead author of the study published today in Jama surgery.
Source : Association of Surgeon-Patient Sex Concordance With Postoperative OutcomesJama network surgery, January 2022
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