Elderly patient survival is higher if doctor is female, US study finds

Elderly hospital patients treated by female doctors had significantly lower 30 day mortality and readmission rates than those cared for by male physicians, a US study has found.1

Previous research has suggested that male and female doctors practise medicine differently. Female doctors, for example, are more likely to adhere to clinical practice guidelines and to provide preventive care more often. But whether these differences affected outcomes was not known.

In the new study Ashish K Jha, of the Harvard TH Chan School …