Two large studies show that people operated on by female surgeons have fewer complications. Doctors from Canada and Sweden have reviewed over a million medical records.
– As a male surgeon, these data should make me and my colleagues pause and think about this, says Christopher Wallis, one of the surgeons behind the study in Canada to The Guardian
Doctors in Canada and Sweden have examined over a million medical records. The results show that people operated on by female surgeons have fewer complications in the months after surgery.
According to The Guardian, the researchers are now investigating what the difference might be. What has been seen so far by going through the medical records is that female surgeons take longer, something that can give a better result.
Christopher Wallis, one of the researchers behind the study, which was carried out in Canada, says this should make male surgeons think twice.
– As a male surgeon, this information should make me and my colleagues pause and think about this, he says according to The Guardian.
In Canada, the researchers examined medical complications, hospital readmissions and death rates after surgery in the next 1.2 million patients.
The results showed that 13.9 percent of the patients who had been operated on by male surgeons had side effects 90 days after surgery. The same figure for patients operated on by female surgeons was 12.5 percent.
A Swedish study shows the same results
A previous study conducted at the Karolinska Institute reviewed the medical records of 150,000 patients after they had their gallbladders removed.
There, too, the researchers concluded that patients treated by female surgeons suffered fewer complications and spent less time in hospital after the operations.
The result showed, just like the study from Canada, that female surgeons took longer.
According to My Blohm at the Karolinska Institutet, one of the researchers behind the study, the results should be interpreted with caution. But she believes that technology and risk-taking may be some of the factors behind the difference, writes The Guardian.