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Some evidence of gender bias in intensive care
May 13, 2002There is some evidence that intensive care is unfair and may be due to gender bias, shows research in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
The research team analysed over 46,500 admissions to 91 intensive care units across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The data came from the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre Case Mix Programme. The researchers focused on 10 categories of disease and scored the illness severity for each patient.
They found no differences in intensive care admissions for irregular heart rhythms, chronic obstructive airways disease, asthma, poisoning and seizures. But there were gender differences for heart attack, neurological bleeding, and pneumonia.
Men admitted with heart attacks were significantly younger, less ill, and had a lower hospital death rate than women. The difference persisted even after taking into account other factors likely to influence the results, suggesting that the criteria for admission were more stringent for women, say the authors. The picture was similar for neurological bleeding.
There were no gender differences in case mix for heart failure, primary brain injury and pneumonia, but men with brain injury were less likely to die in hospital than women, and more likely to die of pneumonia and heart failure. The authors suggest that there are gender differences in the need for care, and that patients might not be getting the treatment they need.
The 'gender norms' hypothesis might explain some of the findings. If doctors expect certain conditions to be more common in one of the genders (heart disease and traumatic head injury, leading to brain injury and neurological bleeding in men, for example) then patients fitting the stereotype may be more readily treated and admitted to intensive care.
The practical implications are that when gender bias occurs, it results in over or under-treatment and does not serve the favoured or neglected group very well. The situation needs to be monitored, say the authors, to ensure that criteria are transparent and that it is clinical need alone that dictates treatment.
British Medical Journal (BMJ)
Men admitted with heart attacks were significantly younger, less ill, and had a lower hospital death rate than women. The difference persisted even after taking into account other factors likely to influence the results, suggesting that the criteria for admission were more stringent for women, say the authors. The picture was similar for neurological bleeding.
There were no gender differences in case mix for heart failure, primary brain injury and pneumonia, but men with brain injury were less likely to die in hospital than women, and more likely to die of pneumonia and heart failure. The authors suggest that there are gender differences in the need for care, and that patients might not be getting the treatment they need.
The 'gender norms' hypothesis might explain some of the findings. If doctors expect certain conditions to be more common in one of the genders (heart disease and traumatic head injury, leading to brain injury and neurological bleeding in men, for example) then patients fitting the stereotype may be more readily treated and admitted to intensive care.
The practical implications are that when gender bias occurs, it results in over or under-treatment and does not serve the favoured or neglected group very well. The situation needs to be monitored, say the authors, to ensure that criteria are transparent and that it is clinical need alone that dictates treatment.
British Medical Journal (BMJ)
Brain Injury Current Events and Brain Injury News RSSResidential design for persons with neurological disability
IOS Press announces the November 2009 publication of a special issue of NeuroRehabilitation: An International Journal devoted to residential design for persons with neurodisability.
NHLBI stops enrollment in study on resuscitation methods for cardiac arrest
Enrollment has ended early in a large, multicenter clinical trial comparing two distinct resuscitation strategies delivered by emergency medical service (EMS) providers to increase blood flow during cardiac arrest.
Findings show nanomedicine promising for treating spinal cord injuries
Researchers at Purdue University have discovered a new approach for repairing damaged nerve fibers in spinal cord injuries using nano-spheres that could be injected into the blood shortly after an accident.
Master regulator found for regenerating nerve fibers in live animals
Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston report that an enzyme known as Mst3b, previously identified in their lab, is essential for regenerating damaged axons (nerve fibers) in a live animal model, in both the peripheral and central nervous systems.
First former college football player diagnosed with CTE
The Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (CSTE) at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) announced today that a deceased former college football player who died at age 42 was already suffering from the degenerative brain disease, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).
General anesthetics lead to learning disabilities in animal models
Studies by researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine have shown that blocking the NMDA receptor in immature rats leads to profound, rapid brain injury and disruption of auditory function as the animals mature.
New data: Hospital imaging centers poised to pull back, hitting patients hardest in rural areas
Survivors and patients with cancers and heart disease, along with patient advocate organizations and physicians, today urged policymakers to enhance early diagnosis of deadly diseases by preserving access to advanced imaging, such as MRI and CT scans, in final health care reform legislation.
Researchers develop an integrated treatment for veterans with chronic pain and posttraumatic stress
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have resulted in a growing number of soldiers evacuated to the United States for comprehensive care for physical and psychological trauma.
Medical ethics experts identify, address key issues in H1N1 pandemic
The anticipated onset of a second wave of the H1N1 influenza pandemic could present a host of thorny medical ethics issues best considered well in advance, according to the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics, which today released nine papers for public discussion.
International conference on endothelin
One of the most intriguing developments in recent medical science is the discovery of the human chemical endothelin (ET).
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