Association Between Surgeon Sex and Days Alive at Home Following Surgery: A Population-Based Cohort Study

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Surgical Outcomes
• Patient-Centered Care

Background:

• Female surgeons are associated with lower mortality, complication, readmission rates, and healthcare costs compared to male surgeons.
• Days Alive and at Home (DAH) is a validated metric for assessing postoperative recovery and patient experience.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between surgeon sex and the number of Days Alive and at Home (DAH) post-surgery.
• To determine if patient outcomes differ based on the sex of the operating surgeon.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective study of adult patients undergoing common surgeries in Ontario, Canada (2007-2019).
• Outcome measures included DAH at 30, 90, and 365 days post-surgery.
• Data analyzed using descriptive statistics and multivariable generalized estimating equations.

Main Results:

• Over 1.1 million patients were included; 61.9% were female.
• Patients treated by female surgeons had a significantly higher mean number of DAH at 365 days (351.7 vs. 342.1 days, P < 0.001).
• This trend persisted after adjusting for covariates, with female surgeons' patients experiencing more DAH at all time points.

Conclusions:

• Patients operated on by female surgeons consistently experienced more DAH compared to those treated by male surgeons.
• Increased DAH may lead to reduced healthcare costs, resource utilization, and improved quality of life.
• Further research is recommended to validate these findings in diverse healthcare settings.