German researchers evaluated 1857 patients and their treatment records from 829 physicians both men and women and they found out that the drug treatments for heart failure is actually influenced by the gender of the patient as well as the gender of the physician.
The result of the study shows that the female patients are getting less of the recommended medications compared to the male patients like the 3 important medicines, the angiotensin-converting enzyme or the ACE inhibitors and the angiotensin receptor blockers or ARBS as well as the beta-blockers.
The ACE and ARBS are prescribed in lower dose with female patients than with male patients. Not only that, the role of the physician’s gender is also contributing to this. Female patients get to use a lower dose of ACE and ARBs from male doctors while male patients get the same from both male and female doctors.
The dose for ACE and ARBs are also different. The highest dose is given to male patients by a female doctor while the lowest is given to female patients by male doctors. The beta-blockers on the other hand is lower for female patients by male doctors while male patients get no difference in dose given by either male or female doctors.
These are pieces of evidence of gender imbalance for both the patients and the physicians. It shows that a female physician gives a more complete drug treatment when a patient’s doctor is female.
Author: Lucy Walker
Lucy Walker is a journalist, author and health living enthusiast who has been involved with health writing since 2014.
