Does Reassurance Help Patients with Unexplained Symptoms?
Author Information
Author(s): Javier I. Escobar
Primary Institution: University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Hypothesis
Does reassurance effectively help patients with medically unexplained physical symptoms (MUPS)?
Conclusion
Patients with MUPS are less likely to remember reassurances about the lack of medical explanations for their symptoms compared to healthy controls and depressed patients.
Supporting Evidence
- Patients with MUPS assigned a 15% likelihood to medical causes, compared to 10% for depressed patients and 5% for healthy controls.
- The study reflects the busy reality of primary care clinics.
- Reassurance was delivered through brief, mechanical statements by physicians.
Takeaway
When doctors tell patients with unexplained symptoms that nothing is wrong, these patients often forget this reassurance more than others do.
Methodology
Participants listened to an audiotaped medical report and rated the likelihood of medical explanations for symptoms.
Potential Biases
The study may not account for the influence of previous medical experiences on patients' perceptions.
Limitations
The study lacked a comparison group of patients with actual medical disorders, which limits the conclusions about memory problems in MUPS patients.
Participant Demographics
30 healthy controls, 22 depressed patients without MUPS, and 33 patients with MUPS.
Statistical Information
P-Value
p<0.05
Statistical Significance
p<0.05
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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