The Influence of Genotype Information on Psychiatrists’ Treatment Recommendations: More Experienced Clinicians Know Better What to Ignore

Alan J McMichael, Marco Boeri, Jonathan J Rolison, Joe Kane, Francis A O'Neill, Ric Scarpa, Frank Kee

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)
276 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

BACKGROUND: This study applies attribute nonattendance to medical decision making. We aimed to demonstrate how this type of analysis can be used in medical decision making to assess whether psychiatrists were influenced in their treatment recommendations by information on the genotype of a patient, despite knowing the patient's response to treatment as measured by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. A patient's genetic information may be used to predict their response to therapy; such information, however, becomes redundant, and should not influence decisions, once a clinician knows the patient's actual response to treatment. METHODS: Sixty-seven psychiatrists were presented with patients' pre- or post-treatment scores on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale for two hypothetical treatments for schizophrenia. Psychiatrists were also informed whether the patient possessed a genotype linked to hyper-responsiveness to one of the treatments, and were asked to recommend one of these two treatments. Attribute nonattendance assessed whether the information on genotype influenced psychiatrists' treatment recommendations. RESULTS: Years of experience predicted whether psychiatrists were influenced by the genetic information. Psychiatrists with 1 year or less of experience had a 46% probability of considering genetic information, whereas psychiatrists with at least 15 years of experience had a lower probability (7%). CONCLUSIONS: Psychiatrists and other clinicians should be cautious about allowing a patient's genetic information to carry unnecessary weight in their clinical decision making.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)126-131
Number of pages6
JournalValue in Health
Volume20
Issue number1
Early online date04 Nov 2016
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017

Bibliographical note

McMichael, Alan J Boeri, Marco Rolison, Jonathan J Kane, Joe O'Neill, Francis A Scarpa, Ric Kee, Frank eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Value Health. 2017 Jan;20(1):126-131. doi: 10.1016/j.jval.2016.09.2395. Epub 2016 Nov 4.

Keywords

  • Adult Antipsychotic Agents/*therapeutic use Attitude of Health Personnel Biomarkers Female *Genotype Humans Male Middle Aged Pharmacogenetics Practice Patterns, Physicians'/*statistics & numerical data Psychiatry/*statistics & numerical data Schizophrenia/*drug therapy *attribute nonattendance *discrete choice *medical decision making

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The Influence of Genotype Information on Psychiatrists’ Treatment Recommendations: More Experienced Clinicians Know Better What to Ignore'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this