November 3, 2026, 1:14 pm | Read time: 3 minutes
Do hospital patients have better survival chances when treated by a female doctor rather than a male doctor? A large Canadian study provides some insights. According to the study, treatment by female doctors was associated with lower mortality and slightly fewer hospital readmissions. But does this mean women are the better doctors? It’s not that simple.
For the study published in the journal “JAMA Network Open,” researchers analyzed data from 958,150 adult patients.1 They were treated in hospitals in the Canadian province of Ontario for one of seven acute conditions between 2008 and 2022. These included heart attack, pneumonia, stroke, and heart failure, among others.
Fewer Deaths After Treatment by Female Doctors
The researchers examined how often patients died or were readmitted to a hospital within 30 days after their hospital stay. A difference emerged between the patient groups: The statistically adjusted 30-day mortality rate was 12.3 percent when a female doctor was primarily responsible for treatment. For patients primarily treated by a male doctor, it was 13.7 percent.
This corresponds to a difference of 1.4 percentage points. There was also a small difference in hospital readmissions: The rate was 18.6 percent for patients treated by female doctors, compared to 18.9 percent for those treated by male doctors.
The researchers considered various influencing factors in their comparison, including characteristics of the patients, the treating doctors, and the hospitals. They aimed to avoid differences being explained by the patients’ health conditions. However, other unrecorded factors could still play a role in such a study.
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What Explains the Differences?
One possible explanation could be differences in medical care. However, the study itself cannot clarify which specific behaviors or processes are responsible for the observed results. The authors emphasize that further research is needed to better understand potential differences in treatment.2
Another important point: Hospital patients are often not cared for by the same person throughout their stay. Therefore, the researchers also examined how many days patients were treated by a female doctor. Here, too, a connection was found: The higher the proportion of hospital days under the care of a female doctor, the lower the statistically estimated risks for death and readmission within 30 days.
Are Women the Better Doctors?
Prof. Dr. Kleinschnitz cautiously interprets the results: “In this Canadian study, it was shown that inpatient treatment by a female doctor was associated with lower mortality and a lower likelihood of being readmitted to a hospital for patients. Previous studies had already shown this for surgical operations. So, are women the better doctors? This causality cannot be derived from the study’s design, but the data show that it is important to further investigate gender-specific influences on medical treatment outcomes.”
Thus, the study does not suggest that female doctors generally provide better treatment than male doctors. Rather, it shows a statistical correlation whose causes need to be examined more closely. Additionally, the results cannot be easily applied to outpatient doctor visits or other health care systems.