RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Assessing the Longitudinal Impact of Physician-Patient Relationship on Functional Health
JF The Annals of Family Medicine
JO Ann Fam Med
FD American Academy of Family Physicians
SP 422
OP 429
DO 10.1370/afm.2554
VO 18
IS 5
A1 Olaisen, R. Henry
A1 Schluchter, Mark D.
A1 Flocke, Susan A.
A1 Smyth, Kathleen A.
A1 Koroukian, Siran M.
A1 Stange, Kurt C.
YR 2020
UL http://www.annfammed.org/content/18/5/422.abstract
AB PURPOSE Access to a usual source of care is associated with improved health outcomes, but research on how the physician-patient relationship affects a patient’s health, particularly long-term, is limited. The aim of this study was to investigate the longitudinal effect of changes in the physician-patient relationship on functional health.METHODS We conducted a prospective cohort study using the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS, 2015-2016). The outcome was 1-year change in functional health (12-Item Short-Form Survey). The predictors were quality of physician-patient relationship, and changes in this relationship, operationalized with the MEPS Primary Care (MEPS-PC) Relationship subscale, a composite measure with preliminary evidence of reliability and validity. Confounders included age, sex, race/ethnicity, educational attainment, insurance status, US region, and multimorbidity. We conducted analyses with survey-weighted, covariate-adjusted, predicted marginal means, used to calculate Cohen effect estimates. We tested differences in trajectories with multiple pairwise comparisons with Tukey contrasts.RESULTS Improved physician-patient relationships were associated with improved functional health, whereas worsened physician-patient relationships were associated with worsened functional health, with 1-year effect estimates ranging from 0.05 (95% CI, 0-0.10) to 0.08 (95% CI, 0.02-0.13) compared with −0.16 (95% CI, −0.35 to −0.03) to −0.33 (95% CI, −0.47 to −0.02), respectively.CONCLUSION The quality of the physician-patient relationship is positively associated with functional health. These findings could inform health care strategies and health policy aimed at improving patient-centered health outcomes.