Female physicians most effective at treating childhood asthma

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Female physicians have a better perception of asthma symptoms in children than their male counterparts, according to Turkish researchers.

The finding could indicate significant contribution of gender-related factors in clinical attitudes and beliefs,Bulent Sekerel (Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey) and colleagues explain in the journal BMC Health Services Research.

Understanding the level of management ability of physicians may guide interventions to improve quality of care and patient outcomes,?the authors write.

Sekerel and team used a questionnaire to examine the self-reported management abilities of 165 Turkish physicians dealing with children with asthma in 2006, and documented the factors that affected decision-making.

All of the questions were prepared as statements and answered on a 5-point scale reflecting degree of physician agreement, ranging from 0 to 4 (4 denoting/equating to total agreement).

Physicians reported Recurrent wheezing(3.75) and reversibility with bronchodilator on lung function test(3.65) as the most important findings for asthma diagnosis, similar to a previous survey in 2003.

Male and female physicians were similar ages (42.47 vs 39.90 years) and had similar experience (17.27 vs 15.46 years), but females examined significantly fewer patients per month than males (253 vs 203).

Self-perception of overall asthma knowledge was the same for both genders, but female physicians more frequently noticed recurrent cough as an important symptom, scored short-acting beta 2 agonists higher as the most useful drug in acute asthma treatment, prescribed inhaled corticosteroids more often for chronic asthma management, and gave more weight to the concept of symptom control as the main aim of asthma management.

He found that gender plays an important role in decision-making,?the authors comment.

Female physicians tend to display more patient-centered behavior, are more concerned about emotional and social aspects of health, and are more interested in a patient input and partnership.

They add: We found that female pediatricians examined fewer children per week so that they could spend more time with their patients in order to facilitate better listening and a more careful evaluation.

The researchers conclude: Female physicians demonstrated better asthma management than males, the reasons for which are not defined and can only be speculated.

Determining gender-related factors underlying decision-making should be a goal of future studies.

Keywords: childhood asthma gender physicians pediatrics asthma