Petrie Kyla A, Chen Jason N, Miears Hunter, Grimes Jerry Speight, Zumwalt Mimi
School of Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, Texas, USA.
Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, Texas, USA.
Womens Health Rep (New Rochelle). 2022 May 9;3(1):500-507. doi: 10.1089/whr.2021.0076. eCollection 2022.
A significant portion of the adults suffer from foot and ankle pain. The sex differences that exist throughout health care, pain management, and orthopedics may further complicate treatment strategies. The purpose of this study was to determine if there were any differences in women and men in health care seeking behavior and symptom chronicity in a West Texas orthopedic population with foot and ankle conditions.
Data from 137 patients were collected in a retrospective chart review. Data were analyzed to determine if there were sex differences in time to primary care provider (PCP) after ankle injury, referral time from PCP to orthopedic surgeon consult, time from orthopedic consult to surgical intervention (if applicable), and chronicity of symptoms.
Women had a significantly higher percentage of chronic injuries than men (30.7% vs. 10.9%), but there were no sex differences in time to PCP from the time of injury, time from PCP visit to orthopedic consult, and time from orthopedic consult to surgical intervention. There were also no differences in those same time frames when compared by chronicity of symptoms (acute injury vs. chronic injury). Finally, we did not find any differences in pain scores between sexes or chronicity of symptoms.
This study suggests that conventional health seeking sex differences may not apply to the foot and ankle patient population in West Texas and surrounding rural areas. Continuing to examine patterns in sex differences may lead to the development of more efficient and tailored treatment approaches and better outcomes.
很大一部分成年人患有足踝疼痛。贯穿医疗保健、疼痛管理和骨科领域存在的性别差异可能会使治疗策略进一步复杂化。本研究的目的是确定在西德克萨斯州患有足踝疾病的骨科患者中，男性和女性在寻求医疗行为和症状慢性化方面是否存在差异。
通过回顾性病历审查收集了137例患者的数据。对数据进行分析，以确定踝关节损伤后到初级保健提供者（PCP）就诊的时间、从PCP转诊至骨科医生会诊的时间、从骨科会诊至手术干预（如适用）的时间以及症状慢性化方面是否存在性别差异。
女性慢性损伤的比例显著高于男性（30.7%对10.9%），但从受伤到PCP就诊的时间、从PCP就诊到骨科会诊的时间以及从骨科会诊到手术干预的时间在性别上没有差异。按症状慢性化（急性损伤与慢性损伤）比较，在相同的时间框架内也没有差异。最后，我们未发现性别之间或症状慢性化方面在疼痛评分上存在任何差异。
本研究表明，传统的寻求医疗的性别差异可能不适用于西德克萨斯州及周边农村地区的足踝患者群体。持续研究性别差异模式可能会导致开发出更有效、更具针对性的治疗方法并取得更好的治疗效果。
