The Impact of Gender Patient-physician Concordance on Interpersonal Processes of Care and Patients' Outcomes in the Diabetes Care Setting

Objective: To investigate whether patient-physician gender concordance influences the patient's perceptions of interpersonal processes of care and patient outcomes in Muslim patients with diabetes.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional telephone survey involving 4152 randomly selected patients using electronic diabetes records. Outcome measures included perceptions of interpersonal processes of care, adherence to medications, and HbA1c. Linear mixed regression models were used to explore the associations between the outcome variables and patient gender and gender concordance.

Results: The best processes of care were observed consistently for female concordant dyads. In adjusted mixed models, lower Hurried Communication was associated with female concordant (-0.91, p < 0.001) and female physician-male patient dyads (-0.82, p = 0.007). Higher Elicited Concerns was associated with female concordant (0.65, p = 0.003) and female physician-male patient dyads (0.59, p = 0.013). Higher Explained Results and Compassionate/Respectful were associated with female concordant dyads (0.83, p < 0.001, and 0.55, p = 0.010 respectively). Lower HbA1c was independently linked with female concordant dyads (-0.84, p < 0.001).

Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of female gender concordance on perceptions of interpersonal processes of diabetes care and glycemic control.

Practice Implications: Strengthening physicians' communication skills with female patients should be taken into consideration.