Gynecologic screening examinations: does the obstetrician-gynecologist's spouse comply?

The practicing obstetrician-gynecologist has certainly moved toward more active teaching and encouragement of preventive medical measures during the past decade. The purpose of this study was to determine how these measures espoused by the practitioner are applied in the physician's family setting. To accomplish this, 5000 questionnaires were sent to actively practicing obstetrician-gynecologists. Questions pertained to health habits as well as social and demographic issues. The results revealed that preventive medical practices, which have a high impact on morbidity and mortality, were not practiced to a significant degree by the spouses of obstetrician-gynecologists. Approximately 17% of the spouses did not have yearly Papanicolaou smears. Women older than 55 years of age were less likely to have this screening test than their younger cohorts. Only 65% perform breast self-examination, and 36% did not have screening mammography performed when recommended. In the postmenopausal group, 57% of the spouses did not receive estrogen replacement therapy, whereas 32% had both estrogen- and progesterone replacement therapy and 11% took estrogen alone. Contraceptive measures used by respondents indicated essentially equal distribution among methods available. The majority of the physicians who responded indicated they did not smoke (84%), did not use illegal drugs (99%), and used alcohol occasionally or not at all (71%).