NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Many primary care physicians in the US believe that counseling patients about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) does little good, new survey findings suggest.

As a result, many patients may be missing out on adequate counseling about STD prevention and routine STD screenings, according to the report published in the April issue of the journal Sexually Transmitted Diseases.

New STD infections occur in approximately 12 million people in the US each year, with 3 million of these infections occurring in teenagers, according to lead author Dr. Michael R. Ashton of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The research was conducted at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.

In the current investigation, 541 primary care physicians responded to a survey that assessed a wide range of attitudes and beliefs about STD counseling.

While the vast majority of physicians (89%) reported that they are comfortable discussing sex-related issues with their patients, as many as 70% thought that their STD counseling was ineffective. Nearly half of the physicians surveyed reported that their medical school STD training was inadequate or that they were not responsible for STD preventive services.

"This study showed that many primary care physicians had limited confidence in their ability to change their patients' sexual risk behaviors, did not feel responsible for delivering STD-prevention services, and faced time constraints that limited their ability to provide STD prevention services," Ashton and colleagues report.

However, female doctors tended to have more positive attitudes about discussing STD issues and conducting screenings with patients.

"The reasons for female physicians' more favorable attitudes toward STD-related issues are not clear, but STDs are commonly viewed as a women's health issue, and female physicians may be more sensitive to such issues," the authors write.

"Interventions to improve physicians' confidence and sense of responsibility for STD prevention could lead to improved STD-related practices among primary care physicians," Ashton's team concludes.

SOURCE: Sexually Transmitted Diseases 2002;29:246-251.

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