Study on the Discrepancy in Responses Given by Patients to Questions Regarding Subjective Symptoms

A cross-sectional study was conducted using the data obtained from a QOL study of Carvedilol to ascertain how the patients' answers on subjective symptoms change depending on how the questions were asked and who asked them. The patients in the present study received Carvedilol for six months, and were then questioned about six subjective symptoms (headache, dull headache, dizziness, palpitation, stiff shoulder, and malaise) by both physicians and pharmacists. The physicians mainly asked patients about the severity of each symptom, whereas the pharmacists asked about the frequency of each symptom. The results showed a discrepancy between the answers given to physicians and those given to pharmacists. The factors associated with the discrepancies in the answers included age, employment and standard of living. The results of the present study suggest that, in order to gather information about subjective symptoms from patients, it is necessary to consider the following factors: how patients are questioned, how they can answer the questions, how much time is spent with patients, and how to should patient privacy be protected.