#6 MALE DOCTORS 40% MORE LIKELY TO PERFORM CESAREAN SECTIONS
THAN FEMALE DOCTORS
Male doctors are overall 40% more likely to perform a cesarean section than female doctors, Reuters Health reports. In a study published in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, researchers found that the results varied by practicing location -- male doctors in university hospitals are almost three times as likely as women to perform cesarean sections, while male physicians in private practice are 1.6 times as likely to perform the procedure. Male and female doctors in HMOs "have similar rates of cesarean section," according to the report. "Physician gender appears to affect the choice of cesarean section quite strongly," the researchers wrote, noting that female physicians may perform the operation less often because "they have a better innate understanding of the female body and its physical processes ... and they also communicate and educate their patients before and during labor more effectively than their male counterparts." However, other factors appeared to influence cesarean sections rates; for example, women who underwent the surgery tended to be older, were more often smokers and "were more likely to have medical problems of various kinds." The researchers stated that physicians practicing at university hospitals "are more likely to attract high-risk patients than those in private practice or HMOs," and thus the difference in cesarean section rates may occur "when there are more uncertainties about the best treatment." According to the report, knowledge about gender discrepancies may help to reduce the performance rate of cesarean sections, which have quadrupled over the past 20 years. About one in every five babies is delivered via cesarean section, an operation that is costlier and has a longer recovery time than traditional vaginal delivery. In addition to cesarean sections, the researchers also noted that gender differences occur in the performance rate of hysterectomies and in physicians' use of mammograms and pap smears (Reuters Health, 11/2).