Comparison of Hospital Mortality and Readmission Rates by Physician and Patient Sex | Annals of Internal Medicine
Background: Little is known as to whether the effects of physician sex on patients’ clinical outcomes vary by patient sex. Objective: To examine whether the association between physician sex and hospital outcomes varied between female and male patients hospitalized with medical conditions. Design: Retrospective observational study. Setting: Medicare claims data. Patients: 20% random sample of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries hospitalized with medical conditions during 2016 to 2019 and treated by hospitalists. Measurements: The primary outcomes were patients’ 30-day mortality and readmission rates, adjusted for patient and physician characteristics and hospital-level averages of exposures (effectively comparing physicians within the same hospital). Results: Of 458 108 female and 318 819 male patients, 142 465 (31.1%) and 97 500 (30.6%) were treated by female physicians, respectively. Both female and male patients had a lower patient mortality when treated by female physicians; how