Kasahara Shingo, Kato Hirotaka, Goto Rei
Graduate School of Business Administration, Keio University, 4-1-1 Hiyoshi, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 223-8521, Japan.
School of Economics and Business Administration, Yokohama City University, 22-2 Seto, Kanazawa, Yokohama, 236-0027, Japan.
Health Econ Rev. 2025 Jul 5;15(1):56. doi: 10.1186/s13561-025-00653-4.
The alignment of preferences between physicians and patients can cause variations in treatment decision-making, thereby affecting health outcomes. However, research on the differences in preferences between physicians and the general population is scarce. This study examines the risk and time preferences of physicians compared with those of the general population, exploring the influence of gender concordance on health outcomes and decision-making in healthcare.
We conducted an online field experiment in October and November 2022 in Japan and analyzed the responses of 469 individuals, including physicians and the general population. The survey was stratified by age and gender to align with the demographics of physicians nationally. Participants' preferences were measured across the health and monetary domains by using a modified multiple price list test format.
The findings revealed that physicians tended to be more risk-averse than the general population in the health and monetary domains, although no statistically significant differences were observed. Physicians were found to be statistically significantly future-oriented, particularly regarding their significant health or monetary gains. Furthermore, while the female general population was more risk-averse in both domains, a gender difference in the physician group was observed only in the monetary domain.
The results affirm that preference differences between physicians and the general population exist in Japan and clarify the unique preference traits of female physicians.
医生与患者之间偏好的一致性会导致治疗决策的差异，从而影响健康结果。然而，关于医生与普通人群偏好差异的研究却很匮乏。本研究考察了医生与普通人群相比的风险和时间偏好，探讨了性别一致性对医疗保健中健康结果和决策的影响。
2022年10月和11月，我们在日本进行了一项在线实地实验，并分析了包括医生和普通人群在内的469名个体的回复。调查按年龄和性别分层，以符合全国医生的人口统计学特征。通过使用改良的多重价格列表测试形式，在健康和货币领域测量参与者的偏好。
研究结果显示，在健康和货币领域，医生往往比普通人群更厌恶风险，尽管未观察到统计学上的显著差异。发现医生在统计学上显著更注重未来，尤其是在涉及重大健康或货币收益方面。此外，虽然女性普通人群在两个领域都更厌恶风险，但仅在货币领域观察到医生群体存在性别差异。
结果证实了日本医生与普通人群之间存在偏好差异，并阐明了女性医生独特的偏好特征。
