Knowledge and clinical practice regarding calcium nutrition among obstetrician-gynecologists

Objective: To survey the knowledge of and attitude toward nutrition among p racticing obstetrician-gynecologists, using calcium as a specific example. Methods: Our survey on calcium nutrition consisted of 29 questions divided into four categories: demographic information, professional interest and cl inical practice, knowledge and opinions, and education. We mailed this surv ey to the 244 ACOG Fellows who are members of the Collaborative Ambulatory Research Network and to a random sample of 756 Fellows who are not members of the Collaborative Ambulatory Research Network. Results: Most (75.4%) respondents considered making dietary recommendations an important part of their practice. Interest in nutrition was correlated significantly with its perceived importance in clinical practice and was as sociated with a greater self-reported likelihood of making dietary recommen dations to patients and referring patients to nutritional counseling. Nutri tion was of greater importance to women and to older respondents. Women wer e more likely to make dietary recommendations to patients. Men were more li kely to recommend nonfoods and higher fat foods as sources of dietary calci um. The daily calcium intake that obstetrician-gynecologists recommended fo r different types of patients varied widely but did not differ between male and female respondents. The responses to the knowledge questions concernin g calcium metabolism were predominantly "don't know." Conclusions: Although specific knowledge of calcium metabolism and regulati on was incomplete, obstetrician-gynecologists generally recognized the impo rtance of nutrition in their clinical practice. Being older and female inde pendently increased the perceived importance of nutrition. (C) 1999 by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.