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Quality of claims and references found in Australian pharmacy journal advertisements

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-19, 00:23 authored by Mandoh, M, Colin CurtainColin Curtain

Objectives: To evaluate the quality of pharmaceutical advertisement claims and supporting references in Australian pharmacy journals that target community pharmacists.

Methods: All full-page advertisements for a medicinal product, found in two Australian pharmacy journals from the year 2012 to 2015 were included. Advertisement claims and references were evaluated by claim type (unambiguous to immeasurable) and level of evidence (strong to irrelevant) in supporting references.

Key findings: Two hundred and ninety distinct advertisements and 598 claims were identified, with a median of 2 claims per advertisement. Twenty-seven percent of claims were unambiguous, 40% were vague, 16% were emotive/immeasurable and 17% were non-clinical or other marketing claims. Half of all claims were referenced. Although 68% of unambiguous claims were referenced, 63% of those were supported by studies that were funded directly or indirectly by pharmaceutical companies. Only 13% of claims were supported with strong or moderate independent evidence.

Conclusions: Pharmaceutical advertisements continue to present vague and emotive claims with little independent supporting evidence. Pharmacists need to be aware of these limitations when providing patient care. Increased awareness of this issue among pharmaceutical companies, Australian pharmaceutical journal publishers, regulators and pharmacists will assist in promoting optimised healthcare outcomes for the Australian public.

History

Publication title

International Journal of Pharmacy Practice

Volume

25

Issue

5

Pagination

365-370

ISSN

0961-7671

Department/School

School of Pharmacy and Pharmacology

Publisher

Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain

Place of publication

United Kingdom

Rights statement

Copyright 2016 Royal Pharmaceutical Society

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Health education and promotion

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