(RxWiki News) In some places, women receive more attention and care than men. But when it comes to seeking care for severe injuries, men may be likelier to get more attention at the hospital for the same injuries.
Women with severe injuries were less likely to receive care at a trauma center than men, according to new research presented at a conference.
Researchers found that the discrepancy in care was similar across different income levels and how the injuries occurred.
"When injured, seek help asap."
The researchers, led by Andrea Hill, MSc, PhD, a post-doctoral fellow at the Sunnybrook Health Science Centre and the University of Toronto in Canada, compared the quality of trauma care that women received for a severe injury versus the quality of care given to men.
More than 98,800 adult patients admitted to acute care hospitals across Canada for a severe injury between April 2002 and March 2010 were included in the study.
A little more than a third of patients were women. The researchers tracked how patients were injured, as well as their age, demographic and socioeconomic characteristics.
The researchers found that severely injured women were 21 percent less likely to receive trauma care than men.
In total, 49.6 percent of female patients received care in a trauma center compared to 63.2 percent of male patients.
Among patients aged 65 or older, about 38 percent of women and 49.6 percent of men received care.
Results were similar for women who were injured during a fall or from a vehicle-related incident, and across income levels and urban versus rural patients.
"Female gender was associated with a decreased likelihood of receiving care in a trauma centre following severe injury," the researchers wrote in their report. "The consistency of the pattern across different mechanism of injury and income strata suggest that further studies examining the underlying reasons for the gender disparity in access to trauma centre care are warranted."
The study, which has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal, will be presented May 21 at the American Thoracic Society International Conference.
