title: Who seeks primary care for sleep, anxiety and depressive disorders from physicians prescribing homeopathic and other complementary medicine? Results from the EPI3 population survey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe and compare patients seeking treatment for sleep, anxiety and depressive disorders (SADD) from physicians in general practice (GPs) with three different practice preferences: strictly conventional medicine (GP-CM), mixed complementary and conventional medicine (GP-Mx) and certified homeopathic physicians (GP-Ho).
  
  
  METHODS
  The EPI3 survey was a nationwide, observational study of a representative sample of GPs and their patients, conducted in France between March 2007 and July 2008.
  
  
  METHODS
  1572 patients diagnosed with SADD.
  
  
  METHODS
  The patients' attitude towards complementary and alternative medicine; psychotropic drug utilisation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared to patients attending GP-CM, GP-Ho patients had healthier lifestyles while GP-Mx patients showed similar profiles. Psychotropic drugs were more likely to be prescribed by GP-CM (64%) than GP-Mx (55.4%) and GP-Ho (31.2%). The three groups of patients shared similar SADD severity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results showed that patients with SADD, while differing principally in their sociodemographic profiles and conventional psychotropic prescriptions, were actually rather similar regarding the severity of SADD in terms of comorbidities and quality of life. This information may help to better plan resource allocation and management of these common health problems in primary care.
authors.affiliation: Equipe d'accueil "Pharmacoépidémiologie et maladies infectieuses",  Institut Pasteur, Paris,  France.
authors.forename: Lamiae
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Grimaldi-Bensouda
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Engel
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Massol
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Guillemot
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Avouac
authors.forename: Gerard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Duru
authors.forename: France
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lert
authors.forename: Anne-Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Magnier
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rossignol
authors.forename: Frederic
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rouillon
authors.forename: Lucien
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Abenhaim
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Begaud