Age and gender differences in diagnostic decision-making of early heart failure: results of a mixed-methods interview-study using video vignettes

OBJECTIVES: Men and women at any age show similar symptoms and signs of heart failure (HF). Since early HF symptoms are ambiguous, doctors may overlook HF as possible cause and misinterpret the signs. The aim was to analyse differences in general practitioners’ (GPs) HF diagnosis and diagnostic certainty by patient age and gender and to identify reasons for possible differences. DESIGN: Factorial design with video vignettes presenting patients (played by professional actors) with early HF symptoms was used. Video vignettes differed regarding patients’ gender (male/female), age (55 years/75 years) and migration background (no/yes: Turkish), while the dialogue was identical. GPs were asked about possible diagnoses and certainty of diagnoses (quantitative) and to narrate their thoughts on considered diagnoses (qualitative). SETTING: General practices in northern Germany. PARTICIPANTS: 128 GPs stratified by gender and length of clinical experience (≤15 years or >15 years). RESULTS: GPs considered HF more often in women than men (predicted probabilities with 95% CI: 0.83 (0.68 to 0.92) vs 0.63 (0.44 to 0.79), p=0.02), especially in older women compared with younger men (predicted probabilities with 95% CI: 0.89 (0.68 to 0.96) vs 0.52 (0.31 to 0.72), p=0,03). Suspected HF was not reasoned by the patient’s gender and only seldom by the patient’s age, but by reported symptoms. Diagnostic certainty of HF was higher in women than in men (predicted proportions with 95% CI: 0.48 (0.39 to 0.58) vs 0.36 (0.27 to 0.45), p=0.01), with highest certainty in older women and lowest in younger men (0.57 (0.45 to 0.69) vs 0.27 (0.17 to 0.37), p<0.01). GPs explained their certainty referring to both typical HF symptoms and their gut feeling. CONCLUSION: Despite an identical dialogue, the study showed differences by patients’ gender and age in frequency and certainty of HF diagnosis. In order to avoid that GPs overlook or misinterpret early signs of HF, it is important to critically reflect diagnostic decisions and possible social influences.