Ten Most Frequently Cited Reasons for Rating Self or the Patient's Health and the 10 Most Frequently Given Improvements Needed to Improve Self or the Patient's Health
| Reason for Rating Patient Health | Health Improvement | Reasons Given | Improvements Needed | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patient Responses (n = 699) | Physician Responses (n = 658) | Patient Responses (n = 611) | Physician Responses (n = 554) | ||
| Number of illnesses | — | 122 (17%) | 163 (25%) | ||
| General health | — | 102 (15%) | 24 (4%) | ||
| Exercise | Need to exercise | 63 (9%) | 25 (4%) | 143 (23%) | 100 (18%) |
| Obesity | Lose weight | 58 (8%) | 69 (10%) | 98 (16%) | 105 (19%) |
| Severity of illness | Improve disease or get better | 52 (7%) | 119 (18%) | 28 (5%) | 23 (4%) |
| Diet or poor food choices | Make better food choices | 39 (6%) | 131 (21%) | 56 (10%) | |
| Presence of no disease | — | 29 (4%) | 35 (5%) | ||
| General response that it is “how I feel” | — | 26 (3%) | |||
| Age | — | 20 (3%) | 24 (4%) | ||
| Miscellaneous | — | 20 (3%) | 48 (8%) | 64 (12%) | |
| Healthy habits and self-care | Better health habits in general | 37 (6%) | 10 (2%) | ||
| Mental health problems | Get mental health care | 25 (4%) | 18 (3%) | ||
| Tobacco use | Stop smoking | 21 (3%) | 35 (6%) | 41 (7%) | |
| Get needed treatments | 16 (3%) | 37 (7%) | |||
| Decrease stress | 15 (2%) | ||||
| Get better sleep | 14 (2%) | ||||
| Get better medication adherence | 30 (5%) | ||||
| Keep doctor appointments and follow advice | 26 (5%) | ||||
Patients and physicians could give more than 1 response. Miscellaneous reasons for ratings included larger health care issues (insurance, incurable diseases) and life status (lack of money), whereas miscellaneous improvements needed included changes in these categories (change the health care system, win the lottery) and statements about already doing everything or needing to do everything.