Differences in diagnostic approach between family physicians and other specialists in patients with unintentional...

Unintentional weight loss is a diagnostic dilemma with diverse diagnostic possibilities for physicians.

Our study focused on the evaluation of differences in diagnostic approach between family physicians and physicians in other specialties.

Outpatients who visited National Taiwan University Hospital from January 1996 to December 1996 with unintentional weight loss of 5% or more within 6 months were recruited by a computer search. All data were obtained from a structured medical record audit.

There was no significant difference in the utilization of common diagnostic laboratory tests between the two groups. However, other specialists ordered more carcinoembryonic antigen tests (P < 0.01) and hepatitis B antigen tests (P < 0.05), but fewer upper gastrointestinal tract barium studies (P < 0.05) than family physicians. For patients without a definite final diagnosis, the diagnostic total costs for laboratory tests and imaging studies were lower for family physicians than other specialists (P < 0.01). For patients with biomedical disorders, the diagnostic cost was not significantly different between the two groups. For patients with psychological disorders, the costs for imaging studies were lower for family physicians than for other specialists (P < 0.05) but there was no significant difference in the total costs between these two groups.

We conclude that the different approaches between the two groups are due to different training backgrounds and characteristics of practice. The patient-centred concepts of family physicians might be more cost-effective in dealing with undifferentiated problems.