Observational studyBMJ (Clinical research ed.)2018
Age and sex of surgeons and mortality of older surgical patients: observational study.
Observational study in BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 46 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
46 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Physician Age and Patient Outcomes: A Systematic Review.Journal of general internal medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Operative Mortality for Male Versus Female Surgeons: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.The Journal of surgical research · 2025Pooled it
- The association between physician sex and patient outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC health services research · 2025Pooled it
- Assessing performance in ageing surgeons: systematic review.The British journal of surgery · 2023Pooled it
- Association between surgeon age and postoperative complications/mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies.Scientific reports · 2022Pooled it
- Impact of physician's sex/gender on processes of care, and clinical outcomes in cardiac operative care: a systematic review.BMJ open · 2020Pooled it
- An Educational Video Game in Trauma Triage at Nontrauma Centers: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2025Trial
- Gender-focused training improves leadership of female medical students: A randomised trial.Medical education · 2022Trial
- Sex of surgeons and team composition and patients' length of stay after surgery: evidence from inpatient claims data in China.BMC medicine · 2026Article
- Racial and Sex Differences in Postoperative Mortality Between Patients With Versus Without Dementia.Annals of surgery open : perspectives of surgical history, education, and clinical approaches · 2026Article
- Potential clinical benefits of probiotics in pediatric allergic rhinitis: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2026Review
- Deep learning and dual-radiomics model incorporating brachytherapy applicator type to predict radiation-induced acute rectal injury in cervical cancer patients.Physics and imaging in radiation oncology · 2026Article
- The Association Between Online Surgeon Ratings and Patients' Postoperative Outcomes in the United States.Annals of surgery open : perspectives of surgical history, education, and clinical approaches · 2025Article
- Long-Term Postoperative Outcomes by Surgeon Gender and Patient-Surgeon Gender Concordance in the US.JAMA surgery · 2025Article
- Surgeon Sex and Postoperative Resource Utilization: A Population-Based Cohort Study.Annals of surgery open : perspectives of surgical history, education, and clinical approaches · 2025Article
- Surgical Outcomes and Patient Expectations and Satisfaction in Spine Surgery Stratified by Surgeon Age.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Observational
- Development and External Validation of a Nomogram for Predicting Pain Risk Post-Transperineal Prostate Biopsy Using Multi-Parameter Analysis.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
- Article
- Patient-Physician Sex Discordance and "Before Medically Advised" Discharge from Hospital: A Population-Based Retrospective Cohort Study.Journal of general internal medicine · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo investigate whether patients' mortality differs according to the age and sex of surgeons.
designObservational study.
settingUS acute care hospitals.
participants100% of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries aged 65-99 years who underwent one of 20 major non-elective surgeries between 2011 and 2014.
main outcome measureOperative mortality rate of patients, defined as death during hospital admission or within 30 days of the operative procedure, after adjustment for patients' and surgeons' characteristics and indicator variables for hospitals.
results892 187 patients who were treated by 45 826 surgeons were included. Patients' mortality was lower for older surgeons than for younger surgeons: the adjusted operative mortality rates were 6.6% (95% confidence interval 6.5% to 6.7%), 6.5% (6.4% to 6.6%), 6.4% (6.3% to 6.5%), and 6.3% (6.2% to 6.5%) for surgeons aged under 40 years, 40-49 years, 50-59 years, and 60 years or over, respectively (P for trend=0.001). There was no evidence that adjusted operative mortality differed between patients treated by female versus male surgeons (adjusted mortality 6.3% for female surgeons versus 6.5% for male surgeons; adjusted odds ratio 0.97, 95% confidence interval 0.93 to 1.01). After stratification by sex of surgeon, patients' mortality declined with age of surgeon for both male and female surgeons (except for female surgeons aged 60 or older); female surgeons in their 50s had the lowest operative mortality.
conclusionUsing national data on Medicare beneficiaries in the US, this study found that patients treated by older surgeons had lower mortality than patients treated by younger surgeons. There was no evidence that operative mortality differed between male and female surgeons.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.