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If your doctor recommends surgery, there's a lot to think about and many questions to answer. Do I really need this surgery? Should I get a second opinion? Will my insurance cover my operation? How long will my recovery take?

But here's something you might not have considered: does the sex of your surgeon affect the chances that your operation will go well? According to a study in JAMA Surgery, it just might.

How a surgeon's sex might affect surgical outcomes

The study looked at information drawn from more than 1.3 million adults and nearly 3,000 surgeons who performed one of 21 common elective or emergency surgeries in Canada between 2007 and 2019. The range of surgeries included appendectomies, knee and hip replacements, aortic aneurysm repairs, and spinal surgeries.

The researchers compared how often unfavorable outcomes (surgical complications, readmissions to the hospital, or death) occurred within 30 days of surgery among four patient groups:

Here's what they found:

The study was not designed to determine why these results were observed. However, its authors suggested that future research should compare specific differences in care, patient-surgeon relationships, measures of trust, and styles of communication between the four patient groups. It's also possible female surgeons follow standard guidelines more closely than their male counterparts. Physicians differ widely in how closely they adhere to guidelines, though it's unclear whether this might vary by physician sex. 

Does other research suggest the sex of a doctor and patient matter?

This is not the first study to suggest physician sex matters when it comes to the quality of medical care. Other examples include a previous study of common surgeries, research regarding elderly patients admitted to the hospital, and patients with heart attacks. Each study found that patients of female physicians tended to fare better than those of male physicians. Similar results were reported for a review of research on patients with cardiovascular disease.

In this latest research there's an added twist: most of the difference in outcomes was among female patients cared for by male physicians. So, there's reason to take a good hard look at why this may be the case. What are female surgeons doing differently — especially with their female patients — that leads to better outcomes compared with male surgeons?

It's a sensitive subject

Let's face it: even raising the possibility that a surgeon's sex matters could make some doctors defensive, particularly those whose patients had worse outcomes. Most doctors likely believe that they provide high-quality care to all of their patients, regardless of a patient's sex. To suggest otherwise will predictably invite more than the usual amount of scrutiny and criticism of the research.

Of course, it's fair to raise questions and to be skeptical of a single study. For example, is it possible that male surgeons took on or were assigned more complex cases? Or, perhaps the non-surgeon members of the surgical teams, such as nurses, trainees, and physician assistants who provide care before, during and after surgery, had something to do with the results. While this study attempted to account for these and other factors, it was an observational study, for which it's often impossible to completely control for confounding factors.

The bottom line

There's little chance to do much planning if your surgery is an emergency. Even if your surgery is elective, in many countries — including Canada, where this study took place — most surgeons are male. That's true even in places where medical schools have similar numbers of male and female students. Any potential advantage may disappear if there's little chance of receiving care from a female surgeon.

A surgeon's expertise and experience with specific procedures matter most. It's impractical to pick your surgeon solely by sex, even in light of this latest research.

But if the patients of female surgeons truly have better outcomes than patients operated on by male surgeons, it is imperative to understand why. Sorting out what female surgeons are doing well (or what male surgeons aren't doing as well) is a worthy goal that could improve outcomes for all patients, regardless of their sex and that of their doctors.

Follow me on Twitter @RobShmerling

Source: Harvard Health Publishing

Kwara state Police command has arrested parents of the suspected k+ller of a 21-year-old female graduating student of Kwara State College of Health Technology, Offa, Awesu Mojisola, among other five suspects, for allegedly causing disappearance of evidence against their son.

It is recalled that one expelled final-year student of Summit University, Offa, Kwara State, Adebayo Joshua Happiness, was earlier arrested in connection with d3ath of Awesu Mojisola. Parading the suspects among other suspected criminals before journalists in Ilorin on Friday, the state Police commissioner, Victor Olaiya, said that a staff of the hotel where the deceased was k+lled is among those arrested.

“After further investigation, it was discovered that the hotel staff on duty found the deceased’s body in the room and unlawfully disposed off her body at the refuse dump.” The police boss also said that among those arrested are popular prophet, Pastor Adebayo Adeniyi, more commonly called Prophet Ogunse, and his wife, the parents of the primary suspect, Adebayo Joshua Happiness, who attempted to tamper with evidence by retrieving their son’s belongings from his school, following their son’s arrest.

Through careful and discreet investigation, Mr. and Mrs. Adebayo Adeniyi, the suspect’s parents, were apprehended. Following their son’s arrest, they attempted to tamper with evidence by retrieving Adebayo Joshua Happiness’s belongings from his school. It was discovered that Mrs. Adeniyi Bukola had removed the SIM card from the deceased’s iPhone and concealed it within a wall some distance from their residence. Contrary to Adebayo Joshua Happiness’s initial claim that he had discarded the phone in Afelele River, Offa, both the iPhone and SIM card were recovered from his parents’ possession.

The Kwara Police commissioner said that suspects involved in the act have been charged with criminal conspiracy and causing disappearance of evidence. He also said that investigation was ongoing, adding that all suspects were in custody. “Upon completion of investigation, the suspects will be duly charged to court to face the full extentof the law.” It is recalled that on August 13, 2024, at about 15:00 hours, the Offa Police Station received a report from one Ogungbenro Blessing, a female resident ofthe Gbomi Area, Offa, Kwara State.

She reported that her roommate, Awesu Mojisola, a 21-year-old graduating student of Kwara State College of Health Technology, had gone missing under suspicious circumstances. The incident occurred on August 9, 2024, at about 1500 hours, when Awesu Mojisola received a phone call from one Kolawola Timileyin, a female student from the same institution. Timileyin relayed a message from Adebayo Joshua Happiness, an expelled final-year student of Summit University, Offa, Kwara State.

Adebayo Joshua Happiness invited Awesu Mojisola to attend a purported sign-out party at Whitefield Hotel, Ilorin, Kwara State, with a promise of N15,000. Mojisola accepted the invitation and left Offa for Illorin later that day. Upon arrival at Ilorin, Mojisola communicated with her friends via phone, expressing discomfort and concern as there appeared to be no sign-out party. Instead, she reported being alone in a hotel room with Adebayo Joshua Happiness, who was reportedly smoking c+nnabis. Subsequently, her phone became unreachable, and her whereabouts were unknown.

Acting swiftly on the report, investigation by officers of the command led to the arrest of Adebayo Joshua Happiness. Preliminary findings revealed that Adebayo Joshua Happiness had deliberately lured Awesu Mojisola to Ilorin under false pretenses, booking a hotel room at around 1800 hours with no intention of hosting a party. Further investigation uncovered that at about 2345 hours on the same day, Adebayo Joshua Happiness booked an additional room at the same hotel for another female, possibly as a cover-up for his premeditated actions.

In the early hours of August 10, 2024, Adebayo Joshua Happiness br*tally mrdered Awesu Mojisola. He abandoned her lif3less body in the hotel room, secured the room, and fled with Mojisola’s iPhone and a sum of N15,600 stolen from the deceased. He then returned to Offa and concealed the stolen phone in his hostel wardrobe.”

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A man has blocked a lady for her inability to keep a conversation going with him on WhatsApp.

The man has gotten the number while she was on shift but after he initiated a conversation with the lady, he discovered she was giving him a one word answer, so he blocked her immediately.

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Singer Timaya has br%ke the internet as he gives his observation about a popular pastor.

He said from his observations, Apostle Johnson Sulaiman lies a lot .

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Six family members including a couple who got married three months ago, has reportedly pass away in a gas expløsion.

The elders of the family was 54 years while the youngest was 28 all died in the tragic incidence.

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