A study published in the British Medical Journal has found the outcomes for men and women from medical trauma, such as vehicle crashes, are not as equal as we may have thought.
According to data from the UK trauma registry (TARN), female patients were more frequently trapped than male patients by 16 percent to just 9 percent of men in serious road incidents.
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The disparity continues the further researchers examine the injuries most commonly suffered in road crashes.
"Trapped male patients more frequently suffered head, face, thoracic (chest), and limb injuries. Female patients had more injuries to the pelvis and spine," the research led by Tim Nutbeam found.
Medical research found inequality in the outcomes of car crashes. /Pixabay
The uneven outcomes are not limited to the direct result of accidents, but continue in trauma treatment according to Nutbeam and his colleagues' research.
Once trauma patients arrive at hospital, many are treated with tranexamic acid (TXA), a drug which cuts deadly bleeding by as much as 30 percent. The treatment is regarded as life-saving and has the same effect on men and women.
However, its application is not as even-handed. Female trauma patients are only half as likely to receive the drug, despite its proven efficacy.
"TXA is the only proven life-saving treatment for traumatic bleeding," said Ian Roberts of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. "Women were treated less frequently than men regardless of their risk of death from bleeding or the severity of their injuries.
"This looks like sex discrimination, and there is an urgent need to reduce this disparity, so all patients who need the drug have the chance to receive it," he added.