title: Knowledge and attitudes of primary care physicians regarding food allergy and anaphylaxis in Turkey.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Food allergy, which becomes an important public health problem, can lead to important morbidity and mortality. Patients with food allergies are more likely to first present to their primary care physicians. We aimed to determine the knowledge of primary care physicians with regard to management of food allergies and anaphylaxis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Primary care physicians were surveyed via a questionnaire aimed to document their knowledge and attitudes about food allergy and anaphylaxis management.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 297 participants completed questionnaires, 55.6% of which were female. Participating physicians had a mean of 17.0 ± 6.1 years of experience. Participants answered 47.2% of knowledge-based items correctly. Overall, participants fared poorly with regard to their knowledge on the treatment of food allergies and anaphylaxis. For example while 60.7% knew that a child can die from the milk allergy reaction, only 37.5% were aware that a child with IgE mediated milk allergies cannot eat yoghourts/cheese with milk. Besides, 53.1% of them chose epinephrine as their first treatment of choice in case of anaphylaxis, yet only 16.6% gave the correct answer about its dosage. Nearly a third of participants (36.7%) felt they were knowledgeable enough regarding the management of patients with food allergies, while 98.2% extended their request for future periodic educational meetings on allergic disorders.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Knowledge of food allergy and anaphylaxis among primary care physicians was unsatisfactory. Provision or periodic educational programmes should be aimed at improving the standard of practice as acknowledged by the participants.
authors.affiliation: Ankara Children's Hematology Oncology Education and Research Hospital, Department of Pediatric Allergy, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Erkoçoğlu
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Civelek
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Azkur
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Özcan
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Öztürk
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kaya
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Metin
authors.forename: C N
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Kocabaş
mesh_terms: D000485:Allergens / Q000276:immunology; D000707:Anaphylaxis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D004032:Diet; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D051188:Knowledge Bases; D008892:Milk / Q000276:immunology; D058007:Physicians, Primary Care; D058996:Quality Improvement; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014421:Turkey
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens