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How do physicians provide statistical information about antidepressants to hypothetical patients?
Wolfgang Gaissmaier1, Britta L Anderson, Jay Schulkin
1Harding Center for Risk Literacy, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany (WG).
Summary
Physicians often fail to provide complete and transparent statistical information to patients for informed consent. Consistent information sharing promotes completeness, while varied sharing may lead to patient nudging.
Area of Science:
- Medical Communication
- Health Literacy
- Informed Consent
Background:
- Informed consent relies on patients understanding statistical information.
- Physician practices in conveying statistical data are not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how physicians present statistical information to patients.
- To determine if information presentation varies based on perceived patient suitability.
Main Methods:
- Survey of 142 obstetricians and gynecologists.
- Physicians reviewed antidepressant efficacy and risk data in various formats.
- Assessed information selected for hypothetical patients with differing perceived outcomes.
Main Results:
- Approximately 25% of physicians provided complete and transparent information.
- Physicians providing consistent information to both patients favored completeness.
- Physicians providing different information to patients were more prone to nudging.
Conclusions:
- Most physicians did not offer complete and transparent statistical information.
- Consistent information delivery correlated with completeness.
- Varied information delivery was associated with nudging behaviors.
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