Survey of United States child and adolescent psychiatrists' cardiac screening practices prior to starting patients on stimulants.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine psychiatrists' barriers, attitudes, and practices regarding cardiac screening prior to initiating stimulants in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

BACKGROUND: Professional and federal oversight organizations recently have debated the evidence regarding sudden cardiac death (SCD) risk with stimulants, and have published guidelines recommending cardiac screening. It is not known how psychiatrists have responded.

METHODS: This study was a cross-sectional survey of 1,600 randomly-selected U.S. members of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Analyses included descriptive statistics and logistic regression.

RESULTS: Response rate was 40%; 96% met eligibility criteria. Barriers to identifying cardiac disorders in general included ability to perform a routine physical examination (74%) and care coordination with primary care providers (35%). Only 27% agreed that SCD risk warranted cardiac assessment. Prior to starting a patient on stimulants, 95% of psychiatrists obtained a routine history. The majority either conducted (9%), or relied on primary care providers to conduct (67%) a physical examination; 26% did not obtain a physical examination. Nineteen percent of psychiatrists ordered an electrocardiogram (ECG), of those, non-mutually exclusive reasons for ordering an ECG included standard practice procedure (62%), clinical findings (27%), medicolegal considerations (25%), and guideline adherence (24%). On multivariate modeling, psychiatrists were less likely to conduct cardiac screening themselves if in private practice (referent: academic medical center), if >50% of their patients had private insurance, or if they believed their ability to perform a physical examination to be a barrier. When modeling cardiac screening performed by any healthcare professional (e.g., psychiatrist, primary care practitioner), screening was less likely if the psychiatrist was practicing in a community mental health center (referent: academic medical center), was male, or if >50% of that psychiatrist's patients had private insurance.

CONCLUSION: Findings suggest the tacit interplay between primary care and psychiatry for the assessment and management of medical risks associated with psychotropic medications should be improved, and solutions prioritized.