Paper of the day - Male GPs give more sick leave to men
Male GPs give more certified sick leave to men than female GPs give to women patients, a study by GP researchers has found.
The study, from the division of primary care at Liverpool University, found that male GPs were 38% more likely to sign off 6-28 weeks of sick leave for male patients than female GPs for female patients.
The findings came from a survey of 3,906 patients from nine general practices in Merseyside.
The reason for the difference could be men being more demanding and aggressive – or better negotiators - with male GPs, or it could be they are more sympathetically dealt with by male GPs, the researchers suggest.
Alternatively GPs of different sexes may have different assumptions about male and female roles at work.
The survey found that the male patients were most likely to complain of musculoskeletal problems while the women were most likely to have mild mental disorders such as depression or anxiety.
When men did have psychological problems GPs, both male and female, acceded to longer periods of sick leave than for women. It may be that a male tendency to present psychological symptoms in an unclear way, with a resulting longer period of diagnostic work-up may explain the longer sick leave of male patients.
Shiels C and Gabbay M. The influence of GP and patient gender interaction on the duration of certified sickness absence. Family Practice 2006; 23: 246–252.
