Abstract
Objective: How honestly patients report their symptoms and medication adherence to their physicians has not been adequately addressed in patients with depression. We therefore conducted a large-scale Internet survey in an effort to discover how successful physicians are in eliciting the truth from their patients and also to examine reasons for patients' truth-concealing behaviors. Method: 2,354 participants who had received treatment for depression within the past year and had been diagnosed with depression by Patient Health Questionaire were identified from 323,226 registrants at the Macromill database through screening procedures. Participants were asked to complete a questionnaire regarding their treatment for depression with a special focus on patientphysician relationship. This study was conducted from December 7 to 13, 2010, in Japan. Results: 2,020 participants successfully completed the questionnaire. Overall, 70.2% of responders reported that they had withheld the truth from their physicians. A logistic regression model found significant associations of such a behavior with female sex (95% CI, 1.15-1.74; P = .001), younger age (95% CI, 0.49-0.97; P = .030), and a lower degree of satisfaction in mutual communication (95% CI, 3.17-6.58; P < .001). 69.2% and 52.6% of the participants refrained from telling about their "daily activities" and "symptoms," respectively. Female participants were more likely to hide the facts concerning "adherence to prescribed medication" and "figures such as body temperature and weight." 31.9% of participants had discontinued the treatment without consulting their physician, which was again more frequent in females, younger persons, and those who were not satisfied with communication with their physician. Conclusions: While the findings obtained herein need to be replicated in other patient populations, a majority of patients with depression were reluctant to uncover the truth, which emphasizes the need for more finetuned suspicion among physicians about symptoms and medication adherence.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 311-317 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Journal of Clinical Psychiatry |
| Volume | 73 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2012 Mar |
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ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Psychiatry and Mental health
- Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
Cite this
How successful are physicians in eliciting the truth from their patients? A large-scale internet survey from patients' perspectives. / Sawada, Norifusa; Uchida, Hiroyuki; Watanabe, Koichiro; Kikuchi, Toshiaki; Suzuki, Takefumi; Kashima, Haruo; Mimura, Masaru.
In: Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, Vol. 73, No. 3, 03.2012, p. 311-317.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - How successful are physicians in eliciting the truth from their patients? A large-scale internet survey from patients' perspectives
AU - Sawada, Norifusa
AU - Uchida, Hiroyuki
AU - Watanabe, Koichiro
AU - Kikuchi, Toshiaki
AU - Suzuki, Takefumi
AU - Kashima, Haruo
AU - Mimura, Masaru
PY - 2012/3
Y1 - 2012/3
N2 - Objective: How honestly patients report their symptoms and medication adherence to their physicians has not been adequately addressed in patients with depression. We therefore conducted a large-scale Internet survey in an effort to discover how successful physicians are in eliciting the truth from their patients and also to examine reasons for patients' truth-concealing behaviors. Method: 2,354 participants who had received treatment for depression within the past year and had been diagnosed with depression by Patient Health Questionaire were identified from 323,226 registrants at the Macromill database through screening procedures. Participants were asked to complete a questionnaire regarding their treatment for depression with a special focus on patientphysician relationship. This study was conducted from December 7 to 13, 2010, in Japan. Results: 2,020 participants successfully completed the questionnaire. Overall, 70.2% of responders reported that they had withheld the truth from their physicians. A logistic regression model found significant associations of such a behavior with female sex (95% CI, 1.15-1.74; P = .001), younger age (95% CI, 0.49-0.97; P = .030), and a lower degree of satisfaction in mutual communication (95% CI, 3.17-6.58; P < .001). 69.2% and 52.6% of the participants refrained from telling about their "daily activities" and "symptoms," respectively. Female participants were more likely to hide the facts concerning "adherence to prescribed medication" and "figures such as body temperature and weight." 31.9% of participants had discontinued the treatment without consulting their physician, which was again more frequent in females, younger persons, and those who were not satisfied with communication with their physician. Conclusions: While the findings obtained herein need to be replicated in other patient populations, a majority of patients with depression were reluctant to uncover the truth, which emphasizes the need for more finetuned suspicion among physicians about symptoms and medication adherence.
AB - Objective: How honestly patients report their symptoms and medication adherence to their physicians has not been adequately addressed in patients with depression. We therefore conducted a large-scale Internet survey in an effort to discover how successful physicians are in eliciting the truth from their patients and also to examine reasons for patients' truth-concealing behaviors. Method: 2,354 participants who had received treatment for depression within the past year and had been diagnosed with depression by Patient Health Questionaire were identified from 323,226 registrants at the Macromill database through screening procedures. Participants were asked to complete a questionnaire regarding their treatment for depression with a special focus on patientphysician relationship. This study was conducted from December 7 to 13, 2010, in Japan. Results: 2,020 participants successfully completed the questionnaire. Overall, 70.2% of responders reported that they had withheld the truth from their physicians. A logistic regression model found significant associations of such a behavior with female sex (95% CI, 1.15-1.74; P = .001), younger age (95% CI, 0.49-0.97; P = .030), and a lower degree of satisfaction in mutual communication (95% CI, 3.17-6.58; P < .001). 69.2% and 52.6% of the participants refrained from telling about their "daily activities" and "symptoms," respectively. Female participants were more likely to hide the facts concerning "adherence to prescribed medication" and "figures such as body temperature and weight." 31.9% of participants had discontinued the treatment without consulting their physician, which was again more frequent in females, younger persons, and those who were not satisfied with communication with their physician. Conclusions: While the findings obtained herein need to be replicated in other patient populations, a majority of patients with depression were reluctant to uncover the truth, which emphasizes the need for more finetuned suspicion among physicians about symptoms and medication adherence.
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U2 - 10.4088/JCP.11m07078
DO - 10.4088/JCP.11m07078
M3 - Article
VL - 73
SP - 311
EP - 317
JO - Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
JF - Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
SN - 0160-6689
IS - 3
ER -