80% of patients lie to doctors to look better

Up to 80% of patients lie to their doctors because they don’t want to medics condemned or lectured. To such conclusion came researchers from the University of Utah.

A truism is a rule that for successful treatment you need to be very Frank with your doctor. The doctor should know about all the nuances of the patient’s health in order for this information to make the right decisions about treatment selection. However, a study by American scientists showed that from 60% to 80% of patients, i.e. the majority, lie to their doctors about such things, for example,as the level of physical activity, the number of alcoholic beverages consumed, diet, Smoking and drugs. In General, they lie about everything that can cause a fair criticism of the doctor and become an occasion for a lecture on healthy lifestyles.

Patients lie because they don’t want to hear a lecture from the medics or look in their eyes leading unhealthy lifestyle. What is even more sad, every third patient is silent when it does not agree with any recommendations of the doctor, or simply does not understand them. But in this case, the treatment efficiency can be even further reduced. Their findings the researchers made based on interviews with 4,500 American patients about how and what they communicate with their doctors.

“Most patients want to look attractive in the eyes of their physicians, that is, to make a more favorable impression – say the authors of the study. – These patients forget that did not come in for an interview for a job, and not on a date with a potential partner. With the doctor need to be as candid as you are with the priest in confession, unless you think the real aim of the treatment for your full recovery. Any information you withhold from a doctor or present an incorrect impact on the effect of therapy. And later you will tell everyone else what a bad doctor you got”. (READ MORE)