Healthy Skepticism Library item: 12357
Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.
Publication type: Journal Article
Davis JJ, Cross E, Crowley J.
Pharmaceutical websites and the communication of risk information.
J Health Commun 2007 Jan-Feb; 12:(1):29-39
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content?content=10.1080/10810730601091326
Abstract:
This study examines the pharmaceutical websites of 44 leading direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertised drugs to determine the extent to which risk information was completely communicated. Three operational definitions of “completeness” were used: communication of the single highest incidence side effect, communication of top three highest incidence side effects, and communication of side effects with incidence of >or= 10% (all measured in terms of absolute percentage). Results indicated that regardless of the measures used, pharmaceutical websites are unlikely to completely communicate risk information. About two thirds of all sites communicated the single highest incidence side effect or all top three side effects. For drugs with side effects at >or= 10% incidence, only about half of their websites fully reported all effects at this level of incidence. Implications for advertisers and regulatory agencies are presented.
Keywords:
Advertising as Topic/standards*
Communication*
Data Collection
Drug Industry/standards*
Humans
Incidence
Internet/standards*
Patient Education as Topic/standards*
Pharmaceutical Preparations/adverse effects*
Pharmaceutical Preparations/classification
Prescriptions, Drug
Risk Assessment*
Safety
United States
United States Food and Drug Administration
