Primary care physician's attitudes and practices regarding antidepressant use during pregnancy: a survey of two

Justin L C Bilszta1, Shauna Tsuchiya, Kwiwon Han

  • 1Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne and Austin Health, Studley Rd., Heidelberg, Melbourne 3084, Australia. jbilszta@unimelb.edu.au

Little is known about the practices of primary care physicians regarding the prescribing of antidepressants during pregnancy. An anonymous survey was administered to a group of nonrandomly selected Australian general practitioners (n = 61 out of 77) and randomly selected Canadian family physicians (n = 35 out of 111). Responses to a hypothetical scenario and questions regarding beliefs about the use of antidepressant medication during pregnancy were collected. Physicians from both countries feel strongly that antidepressant use during pregnancy is a decision complicated by conflicting reports of safety and risk.

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