Blacks Talk to Doctors Less

Aug. 15, 2006 -- Blacks raise fewer concerns and questions when meeting with their doctors and get shorter explanations when they do, according to a new study.

Researchers say that lack of doctor-patient communication may lead to less-informed medical decisions, inferior treatment, and perhaps partially explain some racial disparities in health care.

The study showed doctors provided the same amount of initial information in a lung cancerlung cancer consultation, regardless of race.

But black patients were less likely than whites to ask questions, raise concerns, or bring a family member or friend to their appointment, which reduced the overall amount of information they received.

Race Affects Doctor-Patient Communication

In the study, published in the journal Cancer, researchers looked at how race influenced doctor-patient communication by analyzing audiotapes of 137 separate doctor-patient consultations about lung cancer from 2001-2004.

The results showed that black patients and their companions received significantly less information from doctors -- an average of about 49 statements compared with 87 given to white patients.

But when both doctor and patient were of the same race, patients received more information from the doctor and were more active in talking with their doctor.

When researchers analyzed the data further, they found the degree of passivity or engagement between doctor and patient influenced the amount of information provided by doctors, and race did not.

"Our findings raise concern for a pattern of communication that may perpetuate patient passivity and limited information exchange where black patients, when compared to white patients, do less to prompt the doctor for information and the doctor, in turn, provides less information to black patients," writes researcher Howard S. Gordon, MD, of Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Chicago, and colleagues.

"Medical consultations with less communication may have less information exchange, less patient involvement in care, and could lead to less-informed medical decisions," write the researchers.

SOURCES: Gordon, H. Cancer, published online Aug. 14, 2006; vol 107. News release, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.