Gender discrimination in endoscopic groin hernia repair. Minimal invasive groin hernia repair is offered less often to female patients compared to male patients.

Abstract

Groin hernia repair constitutes a very common procedure in general surgery. Minimal invasive closure of groin hernia has evolved to become the standard means of closure. However, there seems to be a gender-associated discrimination with regard to endoscopic groin hernia repair. We investigated the rate of endoscopic closure in female patients undergoing groin hernia closure. A retrospective analysis of the data of patients undergoing elective groin hernia repair within a four-year period from 2013 to 2016 was performed. The rate of endoscopic hernia repair was calculated for both genders. Eight hundred and forty-six patients including 94 females and 752 males were included for analysis. The female group was significantly older compared to the male group (68.0 vs. 61.0 yrs, P=0.02). The rate of endoscopic groin hernia repair was significantly lower in the female group compared to in the male cohort (30% vs. 60%, P=0.001). The overall duration of surgery was 74.0min in the female cohort and 93.0min in the male group, P=0.001. However, there was no statistically significant difference amongst both groups with regard to the duration of surgery for endoscopic repair: 78.0min in the female group and 89.0min in the male group, P=0.67. Findings from this retrospective collective suggests that, there might be some degree of sex discrimination with regard to endoscopic groin hernia repair in favor of the male population.