Healthy Skepticism Library item: 13500

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

Kemper KJ, Hood KL.
Does pharmaceutical advertising affect journal publication about dietary supplements?
BMC Complement Altern Med. 2008 Apr 9; 8:(1):11
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6882/8/11

Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Advertising affects consumer and prescriber behaviors. The relationship between pharmaceutical advertising and journals’ publication of articles regarding dietary supplements (DS) is unknown. METHODS: We reviewed one year of the issues of 11 major medical journals for advertising and content about DS. Advertising was categorized as pharmaceutical versus other. Articles about DS were included if they discussed vitamins, minerals, herbs or similar products. Articles were classified as major (e.g., clinical trials, cohort studies, editorials and reviews) or other (e.g., case reports, letters, news, and others). Articles’ conclusions regarding safety and effectiveness were coded as negative (unsafe or ineffective) or other (safe, effective, unstated, unclear or mixed). RESULTS: Journals’ total pages per issue ranged from 56 to 217 while advertising pages ranged from 4 to 88; pharmaceutical advertisements (pharmads) accounted for 1.5% to 76% of ad pages. Journals with the most pharmads published significantly fewer major articles about DS per issue than journals with the fewest pharmads (P < 0.01). Journals with the most pharmads published no clinical trials or cohort studies about DS. The percentage of major articles concluding that DS were unsafe was 4% in journals with fewest and 67% among those with the most pharmads (P = 0.02). The percentage of articles concluding that DS were ineffective was 50% higher among journals with more than among those with fewer pharmads (P = 0.4). CONCLUSION: These data are consistent with the hypothesis that increased pharmaceutical advertising is associated with publishing fewer articles about DS and publishing more articles with conclusions that DS are unsafe. Additional research is needed to test alternative hypotheses for these findings in a larger sample of more diverse journals.

Keywords:
Publication Types: Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural MeSH Terms: Advertising as Topic/utilization* Conflict of Interest Demography Dietary Supplements* Drug Industry Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice* Journalism, Medical* Pilot Projects Publishing/statistics & numerical data*