[Perception of pica and its relationship with iron deficiency by hospital physicians in the Paris area]

Abstract

Objectives: To ascertain the attitude of hospital physicians in the Paris area concerning pica and its relation to iron deficiency and to compare findings with data in the literature.

Methods: An anonymous questionnaire was sent to 174 department heads of specialty units caring for iron deficiency patients: internal medicine (n = 56), hepatogastroenterology (n = 39), hematology (n = 13), gynecology and obstetrics (n = 34), pediatrics (n = 32).

Results: The overall response rate was 40.2%. Ninety-seven percent of all the physicians found pica in less than 10% of patients with iron deficiency, and 95.6% considered geophagia as the most frequent pica. For 58.5% of the adult medicine practitioners, pica was regarded only as a cause of iron deficiency, but for 64.7% of the pediatricians, pica was both a cause and a symptom of iron deficiency was not sought in a systemic way in 88.6% of the physicians when a cause of iron deficiency was known.

Conclusion: In the majority of the cases, the attitude of hospital physicians concerning pica is in disagreement with published data, suggesting either epidemiological characteristics specific to the Paris area, or unawareness of the phenomenon.