Division of Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Geisinger Health System, Danville, Pennsylvania, USA.
Department of Population Health Sciences, Geisinger Health System, Danville, Pennsylvania, USA.
Am J Gastroenterol. 2021 Aug 1;116(8):1646-1656. doi: 10.14309/ajg.0000000000001318.
Gender preferences have been reported as a barrier to colorectal cancer screening, particularly among women. We aim to identify the role of patients' gender preferences for endoscopists and endoscopy team members, with the effect of age-related and regional differences.
We conducted an anonymous, voluntary survey of all adult outpatients presenting at our endoscopy centers before their procedures.
We received 2,138 (1,207 women, 905 men, and 26 undisclosed; 50% urban and 50% rural) completed surveys. The majority of the patients (89%) did not have an endoscopist gender preference, while 8% preferred a same-gender endoscopist, and 2% preferred an opposite gender endoscopist. Among patients who expressed a gender preference, men more commonly preferred a same-gender endoscopist than women (91% vs 67%, P < 0.05). More patients preferred a same-gender endoscopy team member than a same-gender endoscopist (17% vs 8%, P < 0.05), and women more commonly preferred a same-gender endoscopy team member than men (26% vs 6%, P < 0.05). Most patients who expressed same-gender endoscopist preference were between the ages of 50-69 years as compared to other age groups (P < 0.05). Of the urban patients, 9% expressed a same-gender endoscopist preference and 3% expressed an opposite gender preference, compared with 7% and 2% of rural patients (P < 0.05). Among patients with any endoscopist gender preference, rural patients were more willing to wait longer (41% vs 21%, P < 0.05), whereas urban patients were willing to pay more (64% vs 14%, P < 0.05) to have their preferences met.
Contrary to previous studies, most patients did not have an endoscopist gender preference. Interestingly, men had more same-gender endoscopist preference, whereas women had more same-gender endoscopy team member preference. Age-related and regional differences exist among patients' gender preferences for their endoscopist and endoscopy team member, and addressing these preferences while creating an environment of a multigender endoscopy team may be beneficial in improving colorectal cancer screening.
性别偏好被报道为结直肠癌筛查的障碍，尤其是在女性中。我们旨在确定患者对内镜医生和内镜团队成员的性别偏好的作用，以及年龄相关和地域差异的影响。
我们对在我们的内镜中心进行检查的所有成年门诊患者进行了匿名、自愿的调查。
我们收到了 2138 份（1207 名女性、905 名男性和 26 名未披露；50%为城市和 50%为农村）完成的调查。大多数患者（89%）没有内镜医生的性别偏好，而 8%的患者更喜欢同性别的内镜医生，2%的患者更喜欢异性别的内镜医生。在表达性别偏好的患者中，男性比女性更常选择同性别的内镜医生（91%比 67%，P<0.05）。更多的患者更喜欢同性别的内镜团队成员而不是同性别的内镜医生（17%比 8%，P<0.05），女性比男性更常喜欢同性别的内镜团队成员（26%比 6%，P<0.05）。与其他年龄组相比，表达同性别的内镜医生偏好的患者大多在 50-69 岁之间（P<0.05）。在城市患者中，9%的人表示有同性别的内镜医生偏好，3%的人表示有异性别的偏好，而农村患者分别为 7%和 2%（P<0.05）。在有任何内镜医生性别偏好的患者中，农村患者更愿意等待更长时间（41%比 21%，P<0.05），而城市患者更愿意支付更多费用（64%比 14%，P<0.05）以满足他们的偏好。
与之前的研究相反，大多数患者没有内镜医生的性别偏好。有趣的是，男性更喜欢同性别的内镜医生，而女性更喜欢同性别的内镜团队成员。患者对内镜医生和内镜团队成员的性别偏好存在年龄相关和地域差异，在创造一个多性别内镜团队的环境的同时，解决这些偏好可能有助于提高结直肠癌筛查率。
