Can the Subjective Aspects of Health be Measured and Visually Displayed Without Harming Patient Experience? A Randomized Control Trial.

Rafael Cordero, Haley Ponce, Niels Brinkman, David Ring, Prakash Jayakumar

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Journal of patient experience, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

0citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Rafael CorderoDepartment of Surgery and Perioperative Care, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.

Haley PonceDepartment of Surgery and Perioperative Care, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.

Niels BrinkmanDepartment of Surgery and Perioperative Care, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.

David RingDepartment of Surgery and Perioperative Care, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6506-4879

Prakash JayakumarDepartment of Surgery and Perioperative Care, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In a randomized trial among people seeking musculoskeletal specialty care, 87 rated 9 items that quantify subjective health (discomfort, incapability, unhelpful thoughts, distress, and social health) with the results visually displayed (spider graph) to the patient and clinician. These 87 patients and 113 controls patients also completed brief measures of symptoms of anxiety and depression as part of the routine office intake that clinicians do not routinely review. In multivariable analysis, patient perceptions of physician empathy, level of involvement in decisions, and 6-week survey participation were not associated with measurement and display of symptom intensity and psychosocial factors. This suggests that brief measurement and visualization of the subjective aspects of health does not harm patient experience.

Indexed as

patient experiencephysician empathyshared decision-makingsubjective health

Identifiers

PMID41624412

DOI10.1177/23743735261415771

PMCPMC12858739

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata

LicenceCC BY-NC

Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.