Institute of Community Medicine, University of Tromsø, Norway.
Patients and general practitioners in northern Norway were asked their opinion on the doctors' use of a white coat in the consultation. 51.9% of the patients wanted their doctor not to wear a white coat, whereas 11.7% of the doctors never wore one. 5.7% of the doctors' staff members never wore a white coat. The patients' preferences were to some extent related to their own doctors' use of a white coat, and there was a significant increase in the demand for a white coat with increasing age of the patients.