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Research Article

Patient–physician gender concordance and increased mortality among female heart attack patients

View ORCID ProfileBrad N. Greenwood, Seth Carnahan, and Laura Huang
  1. aCarlson School of Management, University of Minnesota–Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN 55455;
  2. bOlin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130;
  3. cHarvard Business School, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02163

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PNAS August 21, 2018 115 (34) 8569-8574; first published August 6, 2018; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1800097115
Brad N. Greenwood
aCarlson School of Management, University of Minnesota–Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN 55455;
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  • ORCID record for Brad N. Greenwood
  • For correspondence: wood@umn.edu
Seth Carnahan
bOlin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130;
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Laura Huang
cHarvard Business School, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02163
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  1. Edited by Michael Roach, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, and accepted by Editorial Board Member Mary C. Waters July 3, 2018 (received for review January 3, 2018)

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Significance

A large body of medical research suggests that women are less likely than men to survive traumatic health episodes like acute myocardial infarctions. In this work, we posit that these difficulties may be partially explained, or exacerbated, by the gender match between the patient and the physician. Findings suggest that gender concordance increases a patient’s probability of survival and that the effect is driven by increased mortality when male physicians treat female patients. Empirical extensions indicate that mortality rates decrease when male physicians practice with more female colleagues or have treated more female patients in the past.

Abstract

We examine patient gender disparities in survival rates following acute myocardial infarctions (i.e., heart attacks) based on the gender of the treating physician. Using a census of heart attack patients admitted to Florida hospitals between 1991 and 2010, we find higher mortality among female patients who are treated by male physicians. Male patients and female patients experience similar outcomes when treated by female physicians, suggesting that unique challenges arise when male physicians treat female patients. We further find that male physicians with more exposure to female patients and female physicians have more success treating female patients.

  • gender disparity
  • patient–physician gender concordance
  • patient advocacy
  • heart attacks
  • mortality

Footnotes

  • ↵1To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: wood{at}umn.edu.
  • Author contributions: B.N.G., S.C., and L.H. designed research, performed research, analyzed data, and wrote the paper.

  • The authors declare no conflict of interest.

  • This article is a PNAS Direct Submission. M.R. is a guest editor invited by the Editorial Board.

  • This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1800097115/-/DCSupplemental.

Published under the PNAS license.

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Patient–physician gender concordance and increased mortality among female heart attack patients
Brad N. Greenwood, Seth Carnahan, Laura Huang
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Aug 2018, 115 (34) 8569-8574; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1800097115

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Patient–physician gender concordance and increased mortality among female heart attack patients
Brad N. Greenwood, Seth Carnahan, Laura Huang
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Aug 2018, 115 (34) 8569-8574; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1800097115
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: 115 (34)
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