Comparison of patient-doctor priorities in chronic disease management

When asked to identify and rank a patient’s most important chronic conditions, there is only modest agreement between patients and their physicians. Furthermore, physicians failed to identify what condition mattered most to patients in 29% of cases. A study in France asked 233 patient-physician pairs to identify the patient’s chronic conditions from a list of 124 items and to rank the three most important conditions. Of the 153 pairs that generated priority lists, 29% of patients’ first priorities did not appear anywhere on their corresponding physician’s list, and 12% of pairs had no matching priority conditions. Agreement between patients and physicians varied by condition and were stronger for conditions like hypothyroidism, diabetes, and high blood pressure, and poorer for anxiety and sleep issues. The study was exploratory in nature, yet it points to a need for improved doctor-patient communication in the management of multiple chronic conditions.

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Patient-physician Agreement in Reporting and Prioritizing Existing Chronic Conditions

Stéphanie Sidorkiewicz, MD, PhD, et al

Paris Descartes University, Department of General Medicine, Paris, France