E-drug: Accuracy of pharmaceutical advertisements in medical journals
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Dear E-druggers,
Last Saturday was published in Lancet our study Accuracy of
pharmaceutical advertisements in medical journals. Both the article
and the editiorial is available free on the links below, I have
copied the abstract.
Currently, we would like to research the interaction between drug
detailers and primary care physicians. I will be grateful to hear from
anyone involved in this topic.
Summary
Background Because of the effect of the ever-growing evidence-based
medicine movement on prescribing behaviour of doctors, the
pharmaceutical industry incorporates bibliographical references to
clinical trials that endorse their products in their advertisements. We
aimed to assess whether the references about efficacy, safety,
convenience, or cost of antihypertensive and lipid-lowering drugs
included in advertisements supported the promotional claims.
Methods We assessed all advertisements for antihypertensive and
lipid-lowering drugs published in six Spanish medical journals in
1997 that had at least one bibliographical reference. Two pairs of
investigators independently reviewed the advertisements to see
whether the studies quoted to endorse the advertising messages
supported the corresponding claims.
Findings We identified 264 different advertisements for
antihypertensive drugs and 23 different advertisements for lipid-
lowering drugs. We recorded at least one reference in 31
advertisements in the antihypertensive group and at least one
reference in every seven advertisements in the lipid-lowering group,
providing a total of 125 promotional claims with references. We could
not retrieve 23 (18%) references from monographic works and
non-published data on file. 79 (63%) of the 125 references were from
journals with a high impact factor; 84 (82%) of the 102 references
retrieved were from randomised clinical trials. In 45 claims (44�1%;
95% CI 34�3-54�3) the promotional statement was not supported by the
reference, most frequently because the slogan recommended the drug in
a patient group other than that assessed in the study.
Interpretation Doctors should be cautious in assessment of
advertisements that claim a drug has greater efficacy, safety, or
convenience, even though these claims are accompanied by
bibliographical references to randomised clinical trials published in
reputable medical journals and seem to be evidence-based.
Lancet 2003; 361: 27-32
http://www.thelancet.com/journal/vol361/iss9351/full/llan.361.9351.original_research.23828.1
http://www.thelancet.com/journal/vol361/iss9351/full/llan.361.9351.editorial_and_review.23889.1
[URLs will need repair.BS]
julian librero
Escuela Valenciana de Estudios para la Salud,