To get better results after surgery, one should have the operation done by a woman, as she would be more careful.
- One year after the operation, 25% of patients operated on by male surgeons had complications, compared to 21% of adults operated on by women.
- People cared for by men had 28% longer hospital stays.
- Female surgeons would have better postoperative results because they operate more slowly and are more methodical.
In the field of surgery, women are still a minority, according to Canadian and Swedish researchers. “Sex and gender differences in a surgeon’s medical practice and communication may be factors in patients’ postoperative outcomes,” they added. In two recent studies, they showed that people who had surgery by a woman had fewer complications than those treated by a man.
25% of patients operated on by a man had complications one year after the operation
In the first research, Canadian scientists wanted to examine whether surgeon gender was associated with outcomes in patients undergoing common surgical procedures. For the purposes of the work, published in the journal JAMA Surgery, nearly a million adults were recruited. In total, 151,054 people were operated on by a woman and 1,014,657 by a man. According to the details, 25 different types of surgical procedures performed between 2007 and 2019 were included in the study. “An adverse postoperative event, defined as all deaths, readmissions or complications, was evaluated at 90 days and one year after the operation”the team clarified.
The results revealed that female participants who underwent surgery were less likely to die, be readmitted to the hospital, or experience a major medical complication 90 days or one year after surgery. More specifically, nearly 14% of adults cared for by male surgeons experienced at least one of these events within 90 days, compared to only 12.5% of people operated on by a woman. One year after the operation, 25% of patients operated on by a man had at least one unfavorable postoperative outcome, compared to just under 21% among those treated by women. Regarding deaths, 2.4% of patients operated on by a man died one year after the operation, compared to 1.6% of those who had been operated on by a woman.
Shorter hospital stays when the operation is performed by a woman
In the second study, the Swedish authors focused on gallbladder operations performed between 2006 and 2019. “In total, 150,509 people, including 97,755 (64.9%) underwent elective cholecystectomy and 52,754 (35.1%) acute care cholecystectomy, were operated on by 2,553 surgeons, including 849 (33.3%) women and 1,704 (67.7%) men. Female surgeons performed fewer cholecystectomies per year and were slightly more represented in universities and private clinics. can we read in the work published in the journal JAMA Surgery. Patient results were monitored for 30 days following the procedure.
The finding is the same: adults operated on by men had more surgical complications. For elective procedures, patients operated on by male surgeons had 28% longer hospital stays and 66% higher risks of bleeding complications.
Surgery: women operate more slowly and with more precautions
According to the results, women operated more slowly than men. They spent more time on an operation, 100 minutes on average for a non-urgent intervention, compared to 89 minutes on average for men. The surgeons also seemed to be more methodical. “Precision and caution most likely trump risk-taking and speed when it comes to achieving good patient outcomes,” said Dr. Martin Almquist, a surgeon at Skane University Hospital in Sweden, in a statement.
However, he admits that it is not yet proven that women perform better than men in the operating room. “Perhaps personality traits more common in women contribute to better outcomes? (…) Personal characteristics and attitudes are difficult to study, but likely affect outcomes (…) The takeaway is that “is that female surgeons can perform safer operations and operate more slowly, indicating that caution may be a favorable quality.”
