Your Doctor's Age Should Be A Factor To Consider

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

Many times we look for elderly doctors because we assume that with gray hair comes wisdom and more experience in their field. In many cases this is so, but a recent study by Harvard researchers reveals that some patients with older doctors have a higher death rate than those with younger doctors. The study published in the British Medical Journal, analyzed more than 700,000 patients who were admitted to hospitals and were under the care of some 19,000 doctors from 2011 to 2014, as reported by the science and technology website Ars Technica. All patients were 65 years of age or older and had Medicare. The results reflect that those patients with older doctors were more likely to die.

When they analyzed a period of 30 days from the hospitalization of the patients as a starting point, those who were being cared for by doctors under the age of 40 had a mortality rate of 10.8 percent, while those with doctors from 40 to 49 They had a death rate of 11.1 percent, which rose to 11.3 percent if the doctors were 50 to 59 years old, and 12.1 percent if the doctors were 60 years or older.

According to a 2014 study, 26.3 percent of doctors in the United States are 60 or older, and 9 percent of these are over 70. According to the report in Ars Technica, the results may be because doctors who have more patients or are busier don't have time to catch up on new developments in medicine. By having more time working in the medical field, their client list is longer and they tend to have better reputations than their younger colleagues. Could it be that it is a coincidence or is the study successful?