Role of Gender of Multimorbid Patients in the Treatment provided by their General Practitioners

Abstract

Background: General practitioners are the first point of contact for patients and their workload is increased by frequent visits of patients with multimorbidity, making it very difficult for them to manage these patients as they require more consultation time. General practitioners’ perception in patients’ diagnosis and treatment often leads to under- or overdiagnosis of certain medical conditions when there is a bias towards any gender. Research shows the prevalence of multimorbidity patterns as women having affinity for anxiety, depression, somatoform disorders and pain while men for cardiovascular and metabolic disorders. Literature has evidence that women are treated differently than men for certain conditions. The objective of this study is to find out whether the gender of the multimorbid patient affects the treatment provided by their general practitioners. Methods: This is a cross-sectional observational study. The data was collected by telephonic interviews using standardized EQ-5D questionnaire and EUROPEP instrument. STATA 15.1 was used for statistical evaluations. Results: The EQ-5D questionnaire reflected majority of the patients in our sample size (n=64) healthier. Assessment of patient satisfaction yielded statistically significant differences between genders for three EUROPEP items where women rated “confidentiality of patient information” (pvalue 0.03) and “access to the general practitioner via phone” (p-value 0.04) better, while men for “waiting times at the practice” (p-value 0.04). Regression analysis models showed potential association of EQ-5D scores with patient satisfaction for organization of care (p-value 0.049). Conclusion: The results could not emphasize on the gender bias strongly and significantly, in depth research in future is needed for further confirmation.