Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 May 7;45(17):1505-1511.
doi: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehae121.

Patient-physician sex concordance and outcomes in cardiovascular disease: a systematic review

Lamia Harik  1 , Ko Yamamoto  2 , Takeshi Kimura  2 , Lisa Q Rong  3 , Birgit Vogel  4 , Roxana Mehran  4 , C Noel Bairey-Merz  5 , Mario Gaudino  1
Affiliations

Patient-physician sex concordance and outcomes in cardiovascular disease: a systematic review

Lamia Harik et al. Eur Heart J. .

Abstract

The sex disparity in outcomes of patients with cardiovascular disease is well-described and has persisted across recent decades. While there have been several proposed mechanisms to explain this disparity, there are limited data on female patient-physician sex concordance and its association with outcomes. The authors review the existing literature on the relationship between patient-physician sex concordance and clinical outcomes in patients with cardiovascular disease, the evidence of a benefit in clinical outcomes with female patient-physician sex concordance, and the possible drivers of such a benefit and highlight directions for future study.

Keywords: Cardiovascular disease; Clinical outcomes; Patient–physician sex concordance; Sex concordance; Sex disparity; Women’s health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Graphical Abstract
Graphical Abstract
Proposed drivers for a benefit of female patient–physician sex concordance on clinical outcomes. Created with BioRender.
Figure 1
Figure 1
Sex concordance and predicted probability of patient survival with 90% confidence intervals. Estimates include controls and hospital quarter fixed effects. Covariates held at sample means. Reproduced with permission from Greenwood et al.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Association between female authors and enrolment of female participants per heart failure trial. Reproduced with permission from Reza et al.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Gaudino M, Di Franco A, Cao D, Giustino G, Bairey Merz CN, Fremes SE, et al. . Sex-related outcomes of medical, percutaneous, and surgical interventions for coronary artery disease. J Ame Coll Cardiol 2022;79:1407–25. 10.1016/j.jacc.2021.07.066 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gaudino M, Chadow D, Rahouma M, Soletti GJ, Sandner S, Perezgrovas-Olaria R, et al. . Operative outcomes of women undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery in the US, 2011 to 2020. JAMA Surg 2023;158:494. 10.1001/jamasurg.2022.8156 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Enumah ZO, Canner JK, Alejo D, Warren DS, Zhou X, Yenokyan G, et al. . Persistent racial and sex disparities in outcomes after coronary artery bypass surgery: a retrospective clinical registry review in the drug-eluting stent era. Anna Surg 2020;272:660–7. 10.1097/SLA.0000000000004335 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alam M, Lee VV, Elayda MA, Shahzad SA, Yang EY, Nambi V, et al. . Association of gender with morbidity and mortality after isolated coronary artery bypass grafting. A propensity score matched analysis. Int J Cardiol 2013;167:180–4. 10.1016/j.ijcard.2011.12.047 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gaudino M, Di Franco A, Alexander JH, Bakaeen F, Egorova N, Kurlansky P, et al. . Sex differences in outcomes after coronary artery bypass grafting: a pooled analysis of individual patient data. Eur Heart J 2021;43:18–28. 10.1093/eurheartj/ehab504 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources