Men get medical appointments, but women get only good advice, according to a new study from Mälardalen University, reports vlt.se.
Inger K. Holmström, professor of health sciences, has studied what medical advice women and men receive when they call vårdguiden 1177 (a universal phone number and web address that connects you with your local health care department in Sweden).

Eight hundred recorded conversations have been analyzed. The study shows that when fathers call regarding their sick children, they more often get an appointment to see a doctor, whereas mothers to a greater degree get the advice "wait and see.” The pattern is the same when women call for their own health issues, in comparison to when men call for theirs. The difference could not be explained with men (or their children) being more sick. "There should not be any difference (in how we treat the genders) based on the tools we use in the medical advice service,” says Maria Tiston, head of Vårdguiden 1177 in Västerås in a comment to vlt.se.