Patient preferences for medical decision making: who really wants to participate?

To identify the determinants of patient preferences for participation in medical decision making.

Data were analyzed for 2,197 patients from the Medical Outcomes Study, a 4-year observational study of patients with chronic disease (hypertension, diabetes, myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, and depression). Multivariate logistic regression models estimated the effects of patients' sociodemographic, clinical, psychosocial, and lifestyle characteristics on their decision-making preferences.

A majority of the patients (69%) preferred to leave their medical decisions to their physicians. The odds for preferring an active role significantly decreased with age and increased with education. Women were more likely to be active than men (odds ratio [OR] = 1.44, P < 0.001). Compared with patients who only suffered with unsevere hypertension, those with severe diabetes (OR = 0.62, P = 0.04) and unsevere heart disease (OR = 0.45, P = 0.02) were less likely to prefer an active role. Patients with clinical depression were more likely to be active (OR = 1.64, P = 0.01). Patients pursuing active coping strategies had higher odds for an active role than "passive" copers, while those who placed higher value on their health were less likely to be active than those with low health value (OR = 0.59, P < 0.001).

Although a majority of patients prefer to delegate decision making to physicians, preferences vary significantly by patient characteristics. Approaches to enhancing patient involvement will need to be flexible and accommodating to individual preferences in order to maximize the benefits of patient participation on health outcomes.