Stress in chronic disease: Do the perceptions of patients and their general practitioners match?

Objective. To compare the stressors accompanying chronic disease as perceiv ed by patients and their GPs and to explore how incongruence in patients' a nd GPs' ideas influences patients' health status and use of health care. Method. A total of 580 patients with a diagnosis of diabetes or osteoarthri tis and their GPs were interviewed by questionnaire about the stressors acc ompanying a patient's illness. In addition, information was obtained from e ach patient on health status and use of health care. Results. The results show that patient and GP diverge in the way they think about chronic illness, Incongruence was larger in the case of osteoarthrit is. In both diabetes and osteoarthritis, incongruence between patient and G P was associated with a worse health status of the patient and an increase in health-care use, although the pattern of correlation differed by type of disease. Conclusions. A chronic disease requires an ongoing relationship between pat ient and GP over years. Therefore, it is especially important that provider s recognize the problems with which chronic disease patients are faced. Too often, providers are one-sided focused on the medical aspects of disease, neglecting the personal impact that a chronic disease has on the patient's life. In this way, successful treatment is complicated.