SynthesisJournal of general internal medicine2026
Physician Age and Patient Outcomes: A Systematic Review.
Synthesis in Journal of general internal medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
14 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAn aging population, with rising healthcare needs, places a high strain on the medical workforce. How the aging of healthcare providers affects patient outcomes has garnered considerable interest; however, comprehensive data synthesis is lacking. Therefore, we sought to assess associations between physician age and outcomes of adults receiving medical or surgical care.
methodsThis systematic review was prospectively registered on PROSPERO (CRD42024503166). MEDLINE and EMBASE were searched to January 16th, 2024, and supplemented by a hand search. Eligible studies included randomized controlled trials or observational studies enrolling adults (≥ 18 years) that examined associations between surgeon or medical physician age and patient outcomes (i.e., mortality, hospital readmission, complications, length of stay). Given the heterogeneity of data, a meta-analysis was not conducted.
resultsAcross 17 observational studies (n = 7,311,162), 14 (n = 3,944,944) assessed surgeon age while 3 (n = 3,366,218) examined physician age in medical care. Ten studies were rated as having moderate, six having severe, and one having a critical risk of bias. The threshold for older surgeon age varied from ≥ 45 to ≥ 65 years across surgical studies, while those focusing on medical care utilized a cut-off of ≥ 50 to ≥ 60 years of age. Older surgeon age was generally associated with lower patient mortality; however, there were inconsistent and often insignificant differences in operative mortality. Younger surgeon age was associated with higher complication rates in some studies, with mixed findings on readmission rates and no clear association with hospital length of stay. There was limited data on people receiving medical care, but those treated by younger physicians showed evidence of lower mortality. DISCUSSION: Findings were mixed for both medical and surgical care, with interpretation limited by variable age cut-off definitions, heterogeneous data reporting, and a disproportionate focus on surgical care. Given the aging workforce, further research is needed to support dialogue and policies on medical workforce planning.
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