Media May Mislead on Drug Study Stories

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http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews & storyID=2713233

 

Media May Mislead on Drug Study Stories

Fri May 9, 2003 10:24 AM ET

By Dana Frisch

 

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - News reports about newly available prescription

drugs are often incomplete and

unbalanced, according an analysis of Canadian newspapers. The findings

suggest that consumers need to be more

skeptical about what they read as a consequence, the researchers said.

 

Researchers, led by Alan Cassels of the School of Health Information

Sciences at the University of Victoria in British

Columbia, found that newspaper stories often overemphasized the benefits of

drugs, and many articles did not adequately

address the risks associated with taking the drug.

 

Furthermore, according to the study released this week by the Canadian

Center for Policy Alternatives, when information

was provided regarding benefits and harms, it was quantified in only one in

four articles, and in 26 percent of these it was'misleading.'

 

'Misinformation and biased information leads to overuse and inappropriate

use of drugs,' said Cassels in an interview with

Reuters Health. He explained that the situation is 'worse' in the US, where

direct-to-consumer advertising of prescriptiondrugs is legal.

 

Just over two-thirds of stories did not mention any side effects, and in

those that did discuss harms, they were often in the

bottom half of the article. Contraindications were mentioned in only 4

percent of cases, and the financial ties to drug

manufacturers of individuals giving testimonials about the drug were often

not disclosed.

 

'People have to be much more skeptical about what they read in the media and

they need to judge things based on

independent and objective sources,' said Cassels. The report provides a list

of resources for journalists and consumers to

consult for such information.

 

The study analyzed all articles from the year 2000 written about Pfizer

Inc.'s arthritis drug Celebrex (celecoxib), Pfizer's

cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor (atorvastatin), Eli Lilly & Co.'s

osteoporosis drug Evista (raloxifene), Roche's influenza

drug Tamiflu (oseltamivir) and Eisai Co. Ltd.'s Alzheimer's disease drug

Aricept (donepezil).

 

All of the drugs had been on the Canadian market for less than five years

and had received what the researchers described

as 'a high degree of media attention.' The 193 articles studied were culled

from the 24 daily newspapers that had the

greatest circulation in Canada.

 

Cassels told Reuters Health that he suspected that stories in other media,

such as television, would show similar

inaccuracies because 'the same pressures are there to get out a story.' He

points out that a study conducted in 2000

analyzing the U.S. media found similar reporting errors.

 

The impetus for the study, Cassels explained, came from conversations with

focus groups in which people indicated that

the media was the major source of information on prescription drugs after

physicians and pharmacists.

 

'I hope this ramps up the level of skepticism for journalists and for

consumers who rely on newspapers, which many people consider to be

trusted sources of information,' he said.