Hamburg, Germany  - Female physicians provide better care for heart-failure patients, particularly when those patients are female themselves, according to a startling new study by German researchers.

The new German study indicates that female cardiologists are more likely to prescribe guideline-recommended treatment, such as angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) and beta blockers.

The results also show that female heart-failure patients are less likely to receive optimum care, particularly when male physicians treat them.

The findings, which were published in the online edition of the European Journal of Heart Failure, are the result of the first-ever study to examine the influence of physician gender on the treatment of heart failure.

"The use of evidence-based treatments as described in the latest guidelines has undoubtedly improved the treatment of chronic heart failure," Dr. Magnus Baumhaekel, of the University Hospital of the Saarland in Homburg, Germany, and a study author, said in a European Society of Cardiology news release.

"But there is still evidence of a gender imbalance in both patients and physicians. From our results, it seems fair to say that the gender of the physician plays an important role in adherence to drug treatment recommendations in chronic heart failure."

Baumhaekel and his colleagues evaluated 1,857 consecutive congestive heart failure patients treated at centres in eastern Germany.

Treatment records involving 829 physicians (65 per cent general practitioners, 27 per cent internists and 7 per cent cardiologists) were analyzed with regard to evidence-based drug treatments to improve survival.

Assessment of dosages was calculated as a percentage of averages documented in treatment guidelines for heart failure.

Female physicians did not treat male or female patients differently with regard to the use and dosage of ACE inhibitors or ARBs. Use of beta blockers was more frequent in males than in female patients, but dosage was not different. In contrast, male physicians favoured male patients for both prescriptions and dosage.

"A female patient was likely to receive the worst medical treatment from a male physician, whereas male patients were best treated by a female physician," the researchers wrote. (dpa)