81.1%
The percentage of people who have withheld medically relevant information from their health-care providers, according to an online survey of 2,013 U.S. adults (average age 36). A separate survey of 2,685 older adults (average age 61) found that 61.4 percent reported withholding information from their providers.
45.7%
The percentage of adults who avoided telling their providers that they disagreed with their care recommendations—the most common type of information patients withheld. Among older adults, 31.4 percent reported avoiding telling their providers this. Other common types of information that patients withheld included not understanding instructions, having an unhealthy diet, not taking medication as instructed and not exercising.
81.8%
The percentage of adults who withheld information because they didn’t want to be lectured or judged. Among older adults, 64.1 percent withheld information for these reasons. Other common reasons included feeling embarrassed, not wanting to be thought of as difficult, not wanting to take too much time and not thinking it mattered.
Source: Gurmankin Levy, A., et al. (2018). Prevalence of and Factors Associated With Patient Nondisclosure of Medically Relevant Information to Clinicians. JAMA Network Open, 1(7). Available at https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2716996opens in new window.