- A new study concludes that women with heart health issues get better treatment if they’re seen by a female cardiologist.
- Experts say female doctors simply understand female patients better than men do.
- They say it’s important to improve medical training for both male and female cardiology students.
When it comes to long-term outcomes in heart health, the gender of your cardiologist may play a role in how well things go.
That’s the conclusion of a comprehensive assessment study published today, Feb. 22, in the Journal of The American College of Cardiology.
The study looked at a number of past studies in recent years and concluded that — particularly for women — cardiac patients treated by a provider of the same sex fare better long term with less future hospitalizations and complications.
The reasons run deeper than the notion that women simply relate better to other women, according to Dr. Malissa Wood, the study’s lead author.
Wood, who serves as co-director of the Corrigan Women’s Heart Health Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, said she and her fellow researchers believe the reasons are at least three-fold.
First, she said, women really do “get” other women better than men do.
Source: healthline