Patients' estimations of the importance of preventive health services: a nationwide, population-based cross-sectional study in Portugal.

Our results reveal that Portuguese patients overestimate the importance of preventive medical activities, tend to give more importance to diagnostic and laboratory tests than to lifestyle measures, do not discriminate tests that are important and evidence-based, and seem not be aware of the individualisation of risk. Family physicians should be aware of these optimistic expectations, because these can influence the doctor-patient relationship when discussing these interventions and incorporating personalised risk.