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From conception to cancer screening, menopause to mental health, the reasons why female patients book a GP appointment vary greatly.

 

But this Women’s Health Week, GPs are highlighting the obvious, and sometimes not so obvious, differences between males and females, their healthcare needs, and how conditions can present.

 

Only relatively recently have these gender differences been studied, with a recent and groundbreaking global study revealing ‘stark differences between females and males in major causes of disease burden’.

 

‘The notable health differences between females and males point to an urgent need for policies to be based on sex-specific and age-specific data,’ researchers found.

 

‘It is also important to continue promoting gender-sensitive research, and ultimately, implement interventions that not only reduce the burden of disease but also achieve greater health equity.’

 

Dr Karina Severin, a women’s health GP at Jean Hailes in Melbourne, told newsGP that many women’s health symptoms are still downplayed.

 

‘Women are often told that it’s normal, it’s natural, or it’s minimised,’ she said.

 

‘That goes both ways in that patient sometimes finds it hard to convey the seriousness of their symptoms and then the clinicians, they’re not doing a very good job of expressing it.

 

‘If someone’s taken the initiative to come to talk to you about something, even if at face value it just seems really minor, it might be worth actually thinking, “okay, well why are they here?”.’

 

Earlier this year, the Gender Pain Gap Index report found that 55% of women feel their pain has been ignored or dismissed, compared with 48% of men.

 

Among those who felt that way, 32% of women believe it was because their GP did not take their pain seriously, compared to 20% of men.

 

It is not just pain – differences in the way females experience several different medical conditions have also been established.

 

RACGP President Dr Nicole Higgins told newsGP that women’s health is often complex, and it is important that GPs see patients as people, not just their medical conditions when they walk through the consulting room door.

 

‘Women are more likely to have had contact as well with GPs during their career, just for the fact of pregnancies, contraception and screening,’ she said.

 

‘It’s complex – it’s not just people, people don’t come just as a brain, it’s all of it.’

 

But it is not just female patients whose experiences can differ from their male counterparts – female GPs are not immune.

 

In 2022, a World Health Organization (WHO) report found that women across the globe earn on average 24% less than men when working in healthcare.

 

The 2023 Health of the Nation report also shows that in Australia, female GPs continue to have more presentations relating to psychological issues, with almost eight in 10 reporting these issues as one of their top three reasons for patient presentations.

 

Female GPs, on average, spend longer with their patients compared to male GPs, at an average of 20 minutes per consultation versus 16.

 

Dr Severin says female GPs are often the ones who ‘explore the big questions’, which is encouraged as a way to help their female patients, but can also lead to these longer consultations.

 

In the wake of this mounting evidence, Dr Higgins said there has never been a more important time for GPs to ensure they are looking out for themselves, and getting the care they need to stay healthy, both physically and mentally.

 

‘We bring our own lived experience as consumers, as well as GPs, and often in the role of carers,’ she said.

 

‘With female GPs, it’s really important we have our own GP to make sure that we do all the screenings.

 

‘This Women’s Health Week, I especially want to say thank you to all the female GPs, but also male GPs too, who look after women’s health.’

 

This week is Women’s Health Week, and the theme for 2024 is ‘Your voice. Your choice’, aimed at ‘shining a spotlight on some of the biggest issues in women’s health’.

 

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gender inequalities mental health women’s health Women’s Health Week