Association of Patients’ Past Misdiagnosis Experiences with Trust in Their Current Physician Among Japanese Adults

Background Previous qualitative research has described that previous misdiagnoses may reduce patient and their families’ trust in healthcare. Objective To quantify the associations between patients or family members’ misdiagnosis experiences and trust in their physician. Design Cross-sectional study. Participants Adult Japanese people with non-communicable diseases (cancer, diabetes, depression, heart disease, and connective tissue disease), recruited using a web-based panel survey. Main Measures Surveys assessed the patient and the patient’s family’s experience with misdiagnosis. Trust in the respondent’s current physician was measured using the Japanese version of the 11-item Trust in Physician Scale. Key Results Among 661 patients (response rate 30.1%), 23.2% had a personal history of misdiagnosis and 20.4% had a family history of misdiagnosis. In a multivariable-adjusted general linear model, patients or a family members’ misdiagnosis experiences were associated with lower confidence in their current physician (mean difference −4.3, 95%CI −8.1 to −0.49 and −3.2, 95%CI −6.3 to −0.05, respectively). The impact of having a personal and a family member’s experience of misdiagnosis on trust was additive, with no evidence of interaction (P for interaction = 0.494). Conclusions The patient’s or family members’ misdiagnosis experiences reduced trust in the patient’s current physicians. Interventions specifically targeting misdiagnosed patients are needed to restore trust.