September 13, 2012 — High levels of empathy in primary care physicians correlate with better clinical outcomes for their patients with diabetes, according to a new study of more than 20,000 patients in Italy.The retrospective correlational study of 20,961 patients with diabetes and 242 generalist physicians who treated them in Parma, Italy, found that patients whose physicians scored highest on a validated empathy test had the lowest rates of acute metabolic complications requiring hospitalization. The research was published in the September issue of Academic Medicine.The current study builds on a smaller study from 2011, conducted by several of the same researchers, that found that US physicians level of empathy correlated with the ability of their patients with diabetes to manage their disease, as measured by the patients hemoglobin A1c and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol test results. The 2011 study included 29 family physicians and 891 diabetic patients.These studies are "the first 2 [trials] that were aware of that have actually related empathy to tangible patient outcomes," explained Daniel Z. Louis, MS, managing director of the Center for Research in Medical Education at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Louis worked on both of the studies."Theres real evidence that these patients with diabetes mellitus had fewer complications" when their physicians were more empathic, Louis told Medscape Medical News. "Thats incredible."
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