Female surgeons are better than male counterparts, studies show

Female surgeons perform better than their male counterparts, two recent studies published inJAMA Surgery have found. In a review of millions of procedures in Canada and Sweden, the researchers found that patients treated by female surgeons were better off, 90 days to one year after the surgery.

Notably, in the first study, 17 researchers in the US and Canada went through data of 1.2 million patients in Canada who underwent common surgeries between 2007 and 2020. The researchers said they accounted for different characteristics, such as patient age, surgeon experience, and hospital setting among other things that may affect the surgical outcomes, during data collection.

After 90 days and one year following the surgery, the study authors found that patients treated by female surgeons wereless likely to experience adverse postoperative issues, including death. Although the outcome differences were modest, they remained consistent.

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Interestingly enough, the researchers found that when male surgeons treated female patients, outcomes were slightly worse.

Patients treated by female surgeons hadpostoperative complications about 12.5 per cent of the time, compared to about 14 per cent by male surgeons,90 days post-surgery.

At the one-year stage, the divide was bigger as male-treated patients had adverse postoperative events 25 per centof the time, versus 20 per centof the time from female-treated patients.

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What did the second study show?

The second study focused on more than 100,00 patients in Sweden who had undergone surgery to remove their gallbladder. Although female surgeons spent longer time on the operation table, their patients had shorter hospital stays and less invasive surgeries, the study showed.

Their male counterparts spent an average of eight minutes less per operation, but complications such asbleeding, perforations of the intestine or bowel, bile duct lesions, leakage and abscesses occurred nearly 30 per centmore often.

“In clinical practice, it is important to promote safety and caution in favour of speed, especially when we educate younger surgeons, regardless of the surgeon’s gender,”DrMy Blohm, lead author of the study was quoted as saying by The Wall Street Journal.

Researchers added that the two studies backed up a growing body of literature that points to better health-related results for patientswho were treated by female doctors.

(With inputs from agencies)

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