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Survey of physician knowledge about hemochromatosis
Ronald T Acton1, James C Barton, Linda Casebeer
1Immunogenetics Program, Departments of Microbiology, Medicine, and Epidemiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Alabama, USA.
Purpose:
To survey physicians about knowledge of hemochromatosis.
Methods:
A questionnaire was faxed to American physicians.
Results:
A total of 2,563 evaluable responses were obtained. There were > or = 70% correct responses about at-risk population, associated abnormalities, and population screening. There were 32% and 53% correct answers about diagnosis and treatment, respectively. A total of 8.0% and 4.9% reported asking > 75% of patients about family history of hemochromatosis and iron overload, respectively. Less than 25% requested HFE mutation analysis in the previous year. Correct answers were associated with academic practice, internal medicine specialty, and medical school graduation within 10 years.
Conclusion:
Many physicians have inadequate knowledge about hemochromatosis diagnosis and treatment.