Those who reported the highest level of gender nonconformity were more likely to report physical, psychological, and sexual abuse than those who were below the average in reported nonconformity.
The study did not establish a causal relationship between abuse and gender nonconformity. But the authors note that pediatricians, school officials, and others who work with children should consider screening children who don’t conform to gender roles for possible abuse.
BOTTOM LINE: Children who do not conform to gender roles before age 11 may be at greater risk of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse and possible post-traumatic stress disorder.
CAUTIONS: The study relied on participants to recall what happened in their childhood. Those individuals who were willing to report not conforming to gender roles may also have been more willing to report abuse.
WHERE TO FIND IT: Pediatrics, March 2012
Patient satisfaction unclear measure of quality of care
Opinion surveys measuring how patients feel about their medical care have become a common tool for assessing doctor performance and quality of care at health care facilities. But researchers from the University of California-Davis, in a study of nearly 52,000 people, found that patient satisfaction scores may not be a precise tool.
The researchers, led by Dr. Joshua J. Fenton, looked at the treatment history of people enrolled in a national database between 2000 and 2007 who answered patient satisfaction surveys in two consecutive years.
After using statistical methods to account for how sick people were and sociodemographic factors, the authors found that those who were more satisfied with their care were slightly less likely than others to have visited an emergency room but they were more likely to have been hospitalized. For the most satisfied patients, medical care cost about 9 percent more than for the least satisfied and the risk of mortality was about 26 percent higher.
The authors said the higher hospitalizations could be linked to more elective procedures. They don’t think patient opinion surveys should not be disregarded, they wrote, but their results raised questions about what such satisfaction scores show about health care quality.
BOTTOM LINE: Patient satisfaction scores on doctor performance provide an unclear picture about quality of care.
CAUTIONS: The study focused on patient opinion about just one aspect of medical care, their doctor.
WHERE TO FIND IT: Archives of Internal Medicine, online Feb. 13
