Table 2.
Topic characteristics by patient or physician expressions of uncertainty
| Patient Uncertainty | Physician Uncertainty | |
|---|---|---|
| All topics, % (N=2,350) | 20.21 | 11.73 |
| Topic Characteristics | ||
| Biomedical topics, % (control) | 22.16 | 12.56 |
| Lifestyle and health habit topics, % | 13.58 ** | 9.88 |
| Mental health topics, % | 46.48 ** | 23.94 * |
| Psychosocial topics, % | 8.59 ** | 6.11 ** |
| MD Initiate Topics, % | 13.79 | 10.8 |
| Patient Initiate Topics, % | 28.27 ** | 12.9 |
| Number of instances in topic, mean | 2.30 ** | 2.24 ** |
| Visit Characteristics, % | ||
| Reason for visit: chronic, % (control) | 22.18 | 12.52 |
| acute, % | 13.86 ** | 9.36 |
| Patient Characteristics | ||
| Age 65 – 74 (control) | 20.65 | 12.4 |
| Age 75 – 84 | 18.67 | 12.49 |
| Age > 85 | 23.79 | 7.05 |
| Male, % (control) | 18.5 | 9.52 |
| Female, % | 21.06 | 12.88 |
| White, % (Control) | 19.7 | 11.25 |
| African American, % | 18.59 | 9.05 |
| Education, ≤ high school, % (Control) | 20.3 | 11.16 |
| ≥college, % | 20.19 | 12.52 |
| Mental Health Score, mean | 42.14 | 41.83 |
| Physician Characteristics | ||
| Male, % (control) | 19.36 | 12.35 |
| Female, % | 23.12 | 9.63 |
| White, % (control) | 19.62 | 11.89 |
| African American, % | 25.1 | 10.89 |
| Years in medical practice, mean | 21.31 | 22.16 |
| Internal medicine, % (control) | 16.84 | 7.91 |
| Family medicine, % | 24 | 13.91 |
| Other specialties, % | 20.97 | 14.02 |
| Practice Setting Characteristics | ||
| Academic Medical Center, % (control) | 25.26 | 16.02 |
| Managed care organization, % | 17.13 | 9.17 * |
| Inner city solo, % | 18.75 | 10.42 |
| Dyad Characteristics | ||
| Year of patient-MD relationship, mean | 5.68 | 5.17 |
*
p<0.05,
**
p<0.01