Doctors are less likely than patients to have stopped eating beef

BMJ 1996;313:171-172 (20 July)

Letters

Doctors are less likely than patients to have stopped eating beef

EDITOR,--There has been saturation coverage in the media andseveral articles in medical journals about the possible relationbetween bovine spongiform encephalopathy, Creutzfeldt-Jakobdisease, and consumption of British beef.¹ ² ³ ⁴ The speculationand hype surrounding this latest food scare have resulted inconfusion about the true risks of eating beef. I conducted astudy of 43 doctors and 44 patients to determine whether theirbeef eating habits differed during this crisis and what influence,if any, sex and socioeconomic status might have had.

Table 1 shows my findings. Patients were more likely to havestopped eating beef than doctors and to have stopped eatingbeef products. They were more likely not to allow young childrento eat beef (33 (75%)) and beef products (40 (91%)) than weredoctors (10 (23%) and 24 (56%) respectively). When patients'responses were analysed by occupational class those in classesIV and V were more likely . . . [Full text of this article]

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