Participation preferences of patients with acute and chronic conditions

Background There is little knowledge as to whether the chronicity of a disease affects patients’ desire for participation. Aim To study whether participation preferences vary according to the type of disease. Design, participants and methods Data of 1393 patients from six trials with different medical conditions (hypertension, depression, breast cancer, schizophrenia, multiple sclerosis, minor traumas) were pooled and analysed, using multiple regression analysis controlling for socio‐demographic variables. Results Younger age, better education as well as female gender accounted for a small but statistically significantly greater desire to participate. Patients suffering from multiple sclerosis (MS) exhibited significantly higher participation preferences than the other diagnostic groups. There were no major differences between the other diagnostic groups. Age, gender, education and diagnosis explained only 14% of the variance. Conclusions We found no clear differences between chronic and acute conditions. However, patients suffering from MS, a chronic condition, were clearly different from all other diagnostic groups. The reasons for this difference remain unclear. The predictive value of socio‐demography and type of illness is low.