Female physicians have been linked to improved patient outcomes in numerous studies, according to a new systematic review published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. However, the authors observed, less than 13% of all practicing cardiologists are women, suggesting that the specialty could improve care across the board by embracing diversity and bringing in more female students and trainees.
The analysis, completed by the Cardiovascular Disease in Women Section of the American College of Cardiology (ACC), included 13 different studies published from 2009 to 2019. The research team noticed multiple trends, including the fact that female patients are less likely to receive guideline-recommended care when they are treated by a male physician. Also, the group noted, one study revealed that patient mortality after a myocardial infarction was highest when the physician was male and the patient was female. When the physician was female, however, care was much more consistent; there was no difference in mortality between male and female patients.
“We must continue encouraging young physicians from diverse backgrounds to enter the field of cardiology in order for our physician workforce to more accurately reflect the gender composition of our overall patient population,” senior author Malissa J. Wood, MD, co-director of the Corrigan Women's Heart Health Program at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, said in a news release from the ACC. “It is imperative that we ensure that all physicians provide the same level of high-quality care for all patients, regardless of gender. We need to incorporate comprehensive patient-centered communication and care into medical education.”
Wood et al. shared three ways to help limit such care disparities in the future:
1. Improve gender diversity among physicians
“Increasing patient-physician gender concordance may improve patient outcomes,” the authors wrote. “To achieve gender concordance in clinical practice, our physician workforce must better reflect the gender composition of our overall patient population.”
2. Boost gender- and sex-specific training
By introducing more gender- and sex-specific education to medical training—“especially cardiovascular training,” the authors note—male physicians can gain key insights that improve their ability to care for female patients. Such training could also help female physicians treat male patients.
3. Do more research into the way gender affects patient-physician relationships
“How patient-physician gender concordance influences patient outcomes is not well understood, especially among patients with cardiovascular disease,” the authors wrote. “Improved understanding of the mechanistic drivers will be able to guide future interventions.”
The full analysis is available here.
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.