http://www.healthsentinel.com/news.php?event=news_print_list_item&id=854

Charlene Laino, "Consumer Drug Ads May Confuse the Public", Web MD, May
23, 2005,
Link: http://my.webmd.com/content/Article/106/108166.htm

The drug ads are working to influence the public's choice of
medications.

A new study shows that patients are often influenced by advertisements
for medications that they see on TV and in magazines -- often to the
point that they question their doctor's wisdom.

Some may demand other drug choices; others ask if they were
misdiagnosed altogether.

The bottom line, says researcher Philip Burke, MD, of the University of
Massachusetts at Worcester, is that advertisements aimed at consumers
have an impact on patient attitudes.

But while some consumer groups charge that direct-to-consumer, or DTC,
advertisements for prescription drugs negatively affect the
doctor/patient relationship, Burke isn't prepared to go that far.

Consumer Beware

What the researchers did find is that direct-to-consumer advertising
affects the attitudes of patients toward their psychiatric medications
and affects the interactions between patients and prescribers,
researchers say.

"The important thing is to be aware that they are ads and that they are
trying to influence your behavior," Burke tells WebMD. Have an open,
honest discussion with your doctor if you have any concerns, says
Burke.

But Richard Gordon, MD, professor of psychology at Bard College in
Anndale-on-Hudson, N.Y., is a bit more wary.

The new study, presented here at the annual meeting of the American
Psychiatric Association, included 89 psychiatric patients.

The ads, he says, often oversimplify a psychiatric problem. "Picking
the right medication is a complicated medical decision," Gordon tells
WebMD.

Since 1997, when the FDA loosened its restrictions on DTC ads, drug
companies began heavily advertising prescription drugs to the general
public. Consequently, the $791 million the drug industry spent on DTC
ads in 1996 skyrocketed to $3.2 billion in 2003. The study participants
filled out a 17-item questionnaire that asked about their exposure to
drug ads and how they felt about it.

Among the findings:

* Nearly 60% said they'd seen ads that mentioned the drugs they were
taking.
* About 23% said the ads made them wonder if they had a different
condition.
* More than 50% wondered whether another medication might be better to
treat their condition.

Two-thirds of the participants discussed their concerns with their
doctor, Burke says. About half of these people were put on a new drug
and about one-third of these new medications were the ones mentioned in
the advertisements.

Women and people under 40 were more likely to wonder if a different
medication might be better to treat their condition than men or older
people, he adds.