The glory of the age is the wisdom of grey hair: association of physician appearance with outcomes in hospitalised medical patients – an observational study

This analysis suggests that physician gender or appearance has little influence on the quality of care provided to hospitalised medical patients. Whether the small but significant mortality benefit observed for grey-haired attending physicians is possibly confounded by age and physician experience clearly needs further investigation. Nevertheless, our analysis provides empirical evidence that having at least some grey-haired attending physicians in the medical physician team seems to be beneficial for patients, even if patients do not recognise the clear superiority of their care.