A Review of the Literature on the Relationship Between Doctor-Patient Eye Contact and Clinically Relevant Outcomes

Abstract

A literature review was conducted to elucidate the status of research on the relationship between doctor-patient eye contact (EC) and clinically relevant outcomes and trends in this field. We assessed studies in PubMed, MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Ichushi-Web (the Japan Medical Abstracts Society) that were published by January 2022. Search terms were “doctors or physicians,” “patients,” and “eye contact,” and ultimately, 20 studies were selected for review. To analyze these 20 studies, doctor-patient EC and clinically relevant outcomes were divided into 7 categories: EC and communication, EC and psychological state, EC and relationship building, EC and patient satisfaction, EC and anxiety reduction, EC and continuation therapy, and EC and health status perception. We found an association between EC and psychological state, but we did not reach a specific conclusion about EC and communication, EC and relationship building, and EC and patient satisfaction. These backgrounds may be influenced by research methods, such as the definition of EC and the calculation of agreement rates for discriminating EC, as well as differences in data collection methods for EC between doctors and patients, which is a fine eye movement. Future research is expected to consider the findings of previous studies as clues and research methods in order to determine information on the relationship between doctors’ EC and clinically relevant outcomes can be applied in clinical practice.