Herpes zoster: a comparative study of general practitioner and patient experience

A study was carried out to compare attitudes, perceptions and experiences of general practitioners and patients who had treated/suffered from herpes zoster, or shingles, in the recent past. Randomized samples of 224 general practitioners and 236 patients were drawn from different locations in Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom, and interviews were undertaken as semi-structured face-to-face discussions with the subjects. Most of the discussion questions were the same for both samples but specifically targeted either towards the professional or the patient group. Analysis of the findings showed that although there was a high level of correlation between the two groups on opinions and attitudes on a number of issues, there were significant, important differences on others. For example, prodromal symptoms acknowledged by patients were not always recognized by general practitioners and there appeared to be an inability of some to diagnose early enough to take advantage of appropriate anti-viral therapy whilst they acknowledged the need to do so. This in turn led to a number of patients either not receiving specific therapy or having inadequate therapy. Similarly, whilst general practitioners mainly reflected the current medical view that shingles is a benign and self-limiting condition, patients tended to consider shingles and post-herpetic neuralgia as a painful and serious condition that adversely affected their quality of life and to a greater extent than appreciated by many doctors. The findings of the survey indicate that there is need for improved understanding of the disease and its effects by both doctors and patients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)