Patients in hospital are more likely to die when treated by doctors who are older, new research has found.
Those treated by medics over 60 had a higher mortality rate within a month of admission compared to those cared for by physicians under 40.
The difference was one additional patient death for every 77 individuals.
Study senior investigator Anupam Jena, an associate professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School which carried out the research said the findings raise some serious concerns.
‘It is comparable to the difference in death rates observed between patients at high risk for heart disease who are treated with proper heart medications and those who receive none,’ she said.
