[The opinion of general practitioners in East and west Germany on rehabilitation]

GPs in the former German Democratic Republic (now called 'New Federal States') and in West-Germany (the 'Old Federal States') differ more than ten years after reunification in several respects. This survey shows that they have different attitudes to medical rehabilitation programmes as well. Written questionnaires were sent to all GPs in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein (representing the Old Federal States) and in Sachsen-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (representing the New Federal States). GPs in the New Federal States value medical rehabilitation in general and single programmes more than those in the old ones. They see a higher number of patients who have a good benefit from rehabilitation and estimate the degree of overuse as smaller. They observe more often patients who do not take part in a rehabilitative programme because they are afraid of losing their job. The higher proportion of female GPs in the New Federal States does not explain these differences.