Healthy Skepticism Library item: 7817

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

Zachry WM 3rd, Shepherd MD, Hinich MJ, Wilson JP, Brown CM, Lawson KA.
Relationship between direct-to-consumer advertising and physician diagnosing and prescribing.
Am J Health Syst Pharm 2002 Jan 1; 59:(1):42-9
http://www.ajhp.org/cgi/reprint/59/1/42

Abstract:

A quasiexperimental time-series study evaluating the relationships between direct-to-consumer advertising expenditures by the pharmaceutical industry and the monthly frequencies of diagnoses and prescriptions written associated with the products advertised was conducted based on data for prescribing obtained from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) for 1992-1997 and advertising data obtained from Competitive Media Reporting (CMR) data on the U.S. prescription drug industry from 1992-1997. Positive associations were found between advertising dollars and prescribing of some drugs and drug classes, but negative associations were also identified.

Keywords:
Advertising/economics* Humans Physician's Practice Patterns/statistics & numerical data* Prescriptions, Drug/economics* Retrospective Studies United States