What is a disease? Perspectives of the public, health professionals and legislators
- 1Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
- 2Department of Urology, Helsinki University Central Hospital and University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- 3Insurance Division, State Treasury, Helsinki, Finland
- 4Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
- 5Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Helsinki University Central Hospital and University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Correspondence to Dr Kari AO Tikkinen; kari.tikkinen{at}fimnet.fi
- Received 9 June 2012
- Accepted 15 October 2012
- Published 2 December 2012
Abstract
Objective To assess the perception of diseases and the willingness to use public-tax revenue for their treatment among relevant stakeholders.
Design A population-based, cross-sectional mailed survey.
Setting Finland.
Participants 3000 laypeople, 1500 doctors, 1500 nurses (randomly identified from the databases of the Finnish Population Register, the Finnish Medical Association and the Finnish Nurses Association) and all 200 parliament members.
Main outcome measures Respondents’ perspectives on a five-point Likert scale on two claims on 60 states of being: ‘(This state of being) is a disease’; and ‘(This state of being) should be treated with public tax revenue’.
Results Of the 6200 individuals approached, 3280 (53%) responded. Of the 60 states of being, ≥80% of respondents considered 12 to be diseases (Likert scale responses of ‘4’ and ‘5’) and five not to be diseases (Likert scale responses of ‘1’ and ‘2’). There was considerable variability in most states, and great variability in 10 (≥20% of respondents of all groups considered it a disease and ≥20% rejected as a disease). Doctors were more inclined to consider states of being as diseases than laypeople; nurses and members were intermediate (p<0.001), but all groups showed large variability. Responses to the two claims were very strongly correlated (r=0.96 (95% CI 0.94 to 0.98); p<0.001).
Conclusions There is large disagreement among the public, health professionals and legislators regarding the classification of states of being as diseases and whether their management should be publicly funded. Understanding attitudinal differences can help to enlighten social discourse on a number of contentious public policy issues.
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