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Pharmaceutical advertisement claims in Australian medical publications
Author(s) -
Loke Tim W,
Koh Fong Chee,
Ward Jeanette E
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2002.tb04785.x
Subject(s) - underpinning , audit , diligence , medicine , sample (material) , advertising , actuarial science , psychology , accounting , business , social psychology , engineering , civil engineering , chemistry , chromatography
Objective: To determine the quality of claims in advertisements published in Australian medical publications, describe how benefits and harms are presented, and examine the level of underpinning evidence. Design and setting: Audit of a consecutive three‐month sample of advertisements appearing in six popular Australian medical publications. Main outcome measures: Proportion of advertisements with quantitative information; proportion of claims conveying clinical outcomes; where retrievable, level of underpinning evidence. Results: Of 1504 claims, 855 could be substantiated quantitatively. Of these, 45% were supported by compelling evidence (randomised controlled trials or better). Of 13 claims explicitly reporting quantitative outcomes, none provided the absolute risk reduction or the number needed to treat. Conclusions: Our audit invites greater diligence by pharmaceutical companies in substantiating their claims and greater vigilance among clinicians when reading them.