Presentation (CTI)

OBJECTIVES: Hypertension is a common chronic disease in Japan, and managing blood pressure with medication is important for preventing adverse cardiovascular events. Treatment satisfaction is known to influence medication adherence and real-world treatment effectiveness. Recently, shared decision-making between physicians and patients has been shown to be effective in improving patient satisfaction; however, concrete evidence remains insufficient. This study examined the association between the drug selection process and treatment satisfaction in amlodipine-treated patients, hypothesizing that shared selection process would increase patient satisfaction.
METHODS: Data from the 2024 Patient Mindscape survey were used. Patient Mindscape is a large-scale patient-reported outcome survey covering over 500,000 patients annually across 80 diseases nationwide in Japan. Subjects were patients diagnosed with hypertension who had been prescribed amlodipine besylate within the past year. The association between the drug selection process and treatment satisfaction was analyzed using Fisher's exact test.
RESULTS: Among 28,637 eligible patients, 98.7% (n = 28,278) were in the "Physician-prescribed" group, 0.5% (n = 139) in the "Physician presented multiple options and patient selected" group, and 0.8% (n = 220) in the "Patient-requested medication" group. The proportion reporting high treatment satisfaction (very satisfied/satisfied) was 67.1% in the "Physician-prescribed" group, 75.5% in the "Physician presented multiple options and patient selected" group, and 68.2% in the "Patient-requested medication" group. Treatment satisfaction in the "Physician presented multiple options and patient selected" group was statistically significantly higher than in the "Physician-prescribed" group (p = 0.037). No significant difference was found compared to the "Patient-requested medication" group.
CONCLUSIONS: A treatment drug selection process where physicians present multiple options and patients select is potentially associated with higher treatment satisfaction than physician-prescribed treatment. Enhanced communication between physicians and patients may contribute to improved satisfaction. Further analysis is warranted to elucidate additional factors that may influence patient satisfaction.