The following is a summary of “Gender Differences in Patient-Physician Communication in Ophthalmic Practice, Pre- and Post-Covid 19,” published in the March 2025 issue of American Journal of Ophthalmology by Brown et al. 

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to examine gender differences in ophthalmologist communication patterns before and after the COVID-19 pandemic.  

They collected messages sent by ophthalmic individuals at Penn Medicine from 2017 to 2022. Variations in the number of physician messages per individual, median response length, and response time to inquiries and messages were analyzed based on year and physician gender.  

The results showed that female ophthalmologists sent longer response messages (median [25th, 75th percentiles]: 672 [492-965] characters) than male ophthalmologists (637 [460-918] characters; P < .0001). Female ophthalmologists also sent more response messages per individual (mean [SD]: 5.5 [2.9]) compared to males (3.0 [1.5]; P = .04). This gender difference increased during the peri- and post-COVID-19 period (2020-2022; P = .007). Male ophthalmologists had a higher percentage of same-day responses from 2017-2020 (P < .0001), whereas female ophthalmologists had a higher percentage from 2021-2022 (P < .0001). The largest gender gap in same-day responses was observed in 2020 (34% for males vs. 30% for females; P < .0001).  

Investigators concluded the gender-based ophthalmologist communication differences were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Source: ajo.com/article/S0002-9394(25)00133-3/fulltext