PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Anette F Pedersen
AU  - Anders H Carlsen
AU  - Peter Vedsted
TI  - Association of GPs’ risk attitudes, level of empathy, and burnout status with PSA testing in primary care
AID  - 10.3399/bjgp15X687649
DP  - 2015 Dec 01
TA  - British Journal of General Practice
PG  - e845--e851
VI  - 65
IP  - 641
4099  - http://bjgp.org/content/65/641/e845.short
4100  - http://bjgp.org/content/65/641/e845.full
SO  - Br J Gen Pract2015 Dec 01; 65
AB  - Background Rates of prostate specific antigen (PSA) test ordering vary among GPs.Aim To examine whether GPs’ risk attitude, level of empathy, and burnout status are associated with PSA testing.Design and setting Register and questionnaire study including 129 solo GPs (active in the Central Denmark Region) and 76 672 of their adult male patients with no history of or current prostate cancer diagnosis.Method PSA tests from 2012 were retrieved from a register and classified as incident (that is, the first PSA test within 24 months), repeated normal, or repeated raised tests. This was merged with information on GPs’ risk attitudes, empathy, and burnout status from a 2012 survey.Results Patients registered with a GP with a high score on anxiety caused by uncertainty (odds ratio [OR] 1.03, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.00 to 1.06, P = 0.025) or concern about bad outcomes (OR 1.04; 95% CI = 1.00 to 1.08, P = 0.034) were more likely to have an incident PSA test, whereas those registered with a GP with increased tolerance for ambiguity were less likely (OR 0.98, 95% CI = 0.96 to 1.00, P = 0.025). Patients registered with a GP reporting high tolerance for ambiguity (OR 0.96, 95% CI = 0.94 to 0.99, P = 0.009) or high propensity to risk-taking (OR 0.97, 95% CI = 0.93 to 1.00, P = 0.047) were less likely to have a repeated normal PSA test.Conclusion Various aspects of GPs’ risk-taking attitudes were associated with patients’ probability of having an incident and a repeated normal PSA test. The probability of having a repeated raised PSA test was not influenced by any of the psychological factors. Burnout and empathy were not associated with PSA testing.