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Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Female physicians, saunas

Female vs. Male Physicians In a recent study that Harvard researchers published in JAMA, it was found that patients over 65 years old had lower death rates and lower hospital re-admission rates if they were treated by a female physician rather than a male doctor. The difference was small (11.07% vs 11.49% in adjusted 30-day mortality and 15.02% vs 15.57% in adjusted re-admissions) but if applied to the entire US population would represent a potential 32,000 fewer deaths. The study was done over the period January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2014 using a 20% random sample of all Medicare patients in this category. This represents over 1.5 million hospitalizations. Their results are consistent with a previous study [PMID: 8769910] that found that female doctors were more likely to provide preventative tests and counseling. See this [NPR article]. [PMID: 27992617] [Full Text].

Saunas A recent 20 year follow up study out of Finland found that men taking a sauna 4-7 times a week were 66% less likely to be diagnosed with dementia than those taking a sauna once a week. Not only was the effect very large but a dose response relationship was found increasing the likelihood that the effect is meaningful. (This is one of the Bradford Hill criteria for assessing studies). This follows a long list of other [claimed benefits] from saunas. See [Science Bulletin] [Abstract]

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