[Folic acid use for women desiring offspring: the family physician's response].

Objective: To establish to what extent general practitioners (GP's) are familiar with the folic acid campaign of the Netherlands Bureau for Food and Nutrition Education, display a positive attitude regarding use of folic acid tablets by women who would like to become pregnant and factually provide information on folic acid.

Design: Cross-sectional, descriptive.

Setting: Regions: Central Brabant, Achterhoek, Randstad and Northern Netherlands.

Method: In 1996 a printed questionnaire was sent to 300 GP's selected at random. It contained questions about knowledge, attitude and management regarding the use of folic acid by women who would like to become pregnant and with a normal risk to have a child with a neural tube defect.

Results: The response was high (81%). Most GP's were familiar with the national campaign on folic acid (87%), but 18% considered themselves insufficiently informed about the education campaign and/or the folic acid recommendations. Half the GP's considered use of folic acid tablets by women who would like to become pregnant as important, while two-thirds were of the opinion that it contributed to medicalization of the pregnancy. Most GP's (82%) thought that pregnant women who had not used folic acid tablets might develop feelings of guilt. Nevertheless, 64% recommended use of folic acid tablets and 63% were willing to write a prescription if the woman asked for it. Seventy-five per cent of the GP's reported that they themselves suggested use of folic acid tablets to women who they assumed would like to become pregnant, although most stated they sometimes forgot (58%). The percentages of GP's who sometimes or always suggested folic acid tablets during a contraception advice after delivery or who advised women who would like to become pregnant to switch to a diet rich in folic acid, were much smaller (29 and 37%, respectively).

Conclusion: Although a large number of the GP's mentioned potential problems, the majority actively cooperated in promoting use of folic acid by women who would like to become pregnant.