title: Medical risks and benefits of newborn male circumcision in the United States: physician perspectives.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In 2012, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) published recommendations that physicians should discuss with parents the benefits and risks of newborn male circumcision. Our objective was to assess physicians' perspectives of newborn male circumcision.
  
  
  METHODS
  A self-administered, cross-sectional electronic survey of US physicians was conducted in 2008 (N = 1500).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Approximately one-third (33.2%) of the respondents reported that their current perspective was that the medical benefits outweigh the risks associated with newborn male circumcision and less than one-third (31.1%) reported they would recommend the procedure when counseling parents.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In 2008, only about one-third of the physicians surveyed thought that the benefits of male circumcision outweighed the risks and recommended it to parents of newborn sons. These attitudes may be relevant to the declining circumcision rates in the United States. Repeat surveys may be useful, given the new AAP and ACOG recommendations.
authors.affiliation: Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Lea
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Matar
authors.affiliation: Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Robert T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA dgg6@cdc.gov.
authors.forename: Deborah A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Gust
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002944:Circumcision, Male / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: benefits; counseling; male circumcision; parents; physician; risks