Gender Bias in Healthcare: Definition, Causes and Consequences for Patients

Abstract

Objectives. The aim of this bibliographic review is to provide information on the origin and consequences of gender bias, analyzing the limitations that it produces in clinical practice and proposing multiple points that must be addressed in the future so that the current panorama can be modified. Material and methods. A bibliographic search is performed on the Pubmed, Google Scholar and Dialnet databases, where 241 non-duplicate records are obtained. Following the application of the exclusion criteria, they are reduced to 37 articles, from which other 21 relevant items are identified by snowball sampling. Results. The content of the 33 articles that have been relevant to the research is briefly commented. Discussion. The gender bias in health care is caused by its presence in the production and dissemination of knowledge, leading to a bias in the diagnostic and therapeutic effort. This has consequences related to medical knowledge, clinical management and the provision of health care that have an impact on the health of women, but also of men. The highlighting study limitation is that the impact of gender bias in health professionals, both in their training and in their work practice, and in specific pathologies is not addressed. Conclusions. Currently, there are limitations related to gender bias in the field of research, dissemination of knowledge and clinical practice. Therefore, this will continue to be an important search field in the coming years, since the integration of gender medicine is a key item consider within personalized medicine and patient-centered care to achieve a holistic approach of patients and diseases.