Immediate Test Result Release Rarely Increased Patient Anxiety in Portal Survey

Most patients who viewed immediately released test results through a patient portal reported decreased or unchanged anxiety afterward, and most intended to keep viewing future results right away, according to a survey study published as a research letter in JAMA Network Open.

The investigators noted that since the 21st Century Cures Act Information Blocking Rule took effect in April 2021, US medical centers have generally released test results immediately through patient portals rather than holding them for clinician review. Patients who receive results, especially abnormal or sensitive ones, without a clinician present may experience worry or anxiety, they wrote.

The cross-sectional survey at Vanderbilt University Medical Center added questions to a routine patient experience survey sent after encounters from September through November 2025; 19.6% of distributed surveys were completed. The analysis included 13,898 patients confirmed through electronic health record metadata to have viewed results within the previous 45 days, 67.9% of whom had received at least 1 abnormal result. Overall, 28.0% reported feeling somewhat, very, or extremely worried while waiting to view results, and 4.6% reported feeling more worried after viewing them.

Increased anxiety after viewing was associated with higher baseline anxiety, but the analysis did not establish an association with receiving an abnormal result or undergoing a sensitive test overall. One category of sensitive test, those potentially diagnostic for cancer, was associated with increased anxiety (odds ratio, 1.55; 95% CI, 1.13-2.10). Overall, 88.3% of patients planned to review future results immediately, including 79.5% of those who reported increased anxiety.

The authors noted that the anxiety measures were not validated, that baseline anxiety was assessed after patients had already viewed their results, that respondents self-selected, and that the sample came from a single academic medical center with a largely insured population. They wrote that patients with anxiety around test results should be identified and supported before and during results release.

Source: Suresh U, Steitz BD, Carlson B, et al. Patient anxiety about immediately released laboratory test results. JAMA Netw Open. 2026;9(10):e2640246. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.40246