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Anchoring-based intervention increased patient willingness to use biologic injection for psoriasis

Researchers found that the use of anchoring was effective in determining that patients with psoriasis were more willing to consider a once-monthly biologic injection after initially being asked to consider a once-daily injection, according to recently published study results in JAMA Dermatology.

“Anchoring is the tendency for humans to make judgments relative to the first piece of information presented,” the researchers wrote. “Since psychological anchors can be arbitrary, resetting the anchor may be a potential approach to help patients overcome fear of injection.”

The researchers studied 100 patients aged 18 years or older with psoriasis who had not been prescribed an injectable medication. Fifty patients (mean age, 51.1 years; 46% male) were randomly assigned to an intervention group, in which an anchoring question assessed their willingness to start a once-daily injectable medication, then subsequently questioned on their willingness to start a once-monthly injection for psoriasis. A scale of 1 to 10 was used, with 10 being “very willing” The other 50 participants (mean age, 53 years; 52% male) were assigned to a control group in which they were only asked about their willingness to start a once-monthly injection.

There were no significant differences in baseline characteristics between the two cohorts.

The participants in the anchor cohort were more willing to start the once-monthly injectable biologic (median, 7.5) compared with the controls (median, 2) to a once-daily injectable medication (P < .001).

“Our data suggest that if a patient were first counseled regarding the possibility of a daily injectable biologic medication, they would be less hesitant to the warranted monthly injection,” the researchers wrote. “We made the once-monthly injection seem like a bargain in terms of the number of injections needed. The objective number of injections did not change, but the perception of that number changed dramatically.”

“We expect anchoring to be a very general phenomenon that could be used to impact a wide array of patient decisions (safety or efficacy discussions),” the researchers concluded. “As part of a complete treatment education program, addressing appropriate anchors may be a very low-cost, useful intervention.” – by Bruce Thiel

Disclosure: Oussedik reports no relevant financial disclosures. Please see the full study for other researchers’ relevant financial disclosures.