ArticleQuality & safety in health care2007
Which doctors are influenced by a patient's age? A multi-method study of angina treatment in general practice, cardiology and gerontology.
Article in Quality & safety in health care, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 43 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- What is important, what needs treating? How GPs perceive older patients' multiple health problems: a mixed method research study.BMC research notes · 2012Trial
- Physician clinical information technology and health care disparities.Medical care research and review : MCRR · 2009Trial
- Evaluation of determinants for age disparities in the survival improvement of colon cancer: results from a cohort of more than 486,000 patients in the United States.American journal of cancer research · 2020Article
- Defining 'elderly' in clinical practice guidelines for pharmacotherapy.Pharmacy practice · 2014Article
- Do treatment preferences for patients with angina change? An 18-month follow-up study.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2012Article
- Underprescription of beneficial medicines in older people: causes, consequences and prevention.Drugs & aging · 2012Review
- Article
- Equity in access to total joint replacement of the hip and knee in England: cross sectional study.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2010Article
- Non-clinical influences on clinical decision-making: a major challenge to evidence-based practice.Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine · 2010Review
- Physician cognitive processing as a source of diagnostic and treatment disparities in coronary heart disease: results of a factorial priming experiment.Journal of health and social behavior · 2010Article
- Reasons of general practitioners for not prescribing lipid-lowering medication to patients with diabetes: a qualitative study.BMC family practice · 2009Article
- Geriatric surgery is about disease, not age.Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine · 2008Review
- Honour your father and mother: ageism in medicine.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2007Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundElderly patients with cardiovascular disease are relatively undertreated and undertested.
objectivesTo investigate whether, and how, individual doctors are influenced by a patient's age in their investigation and treatment of angina.
designProcess-based judgment analysis using electronic patients, semistructured interviews.
settingPrimary Care, Care of the Elderly and Cardiology in England.
participantsEighty five doctors: 29 cardiologists, 28 care of the elderly specialists and 28 general practitioners (GPs).
main outcome measuresTesting and treatment decisions on hypothetical patients.
resultsForty six per cent of GPs and care of the elderly doctors, and 48% of cardiologists treated patients aged 65+ differently to those under 65, independent of comorbidity. This effect was evident on several decisions: elderly patients were less likely to be prescribed a statin given a cholesterol test, referred to a cardiologist, given an exercise tolerance test, angiography and revascularisation; more likely to have their current prescriptions changed and to be given a follow-up appointment. There was no effect of specialty, gender or years of training on influence of patient age. Those doctors who were influenced by age were on average five years older than those who were not. Interviews revealed that some doctors saw old age as a contraindication to treat.
conclusionsAge, independent of comorbidity, presentation and patients' wishes, directly influenced decision-making about angina investigation and treatment by half of the doctors in the primary and secondary care samples. Doctors explicitly reasoned about the direct influence of age and age-associated influences.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.