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[One year's written drug information to a general practitioner]
1RELIS Midt-Norge, Avdeling for legemidler, Regionsykehuset i Trondheim, 7006 Trondheim.
Summary
General practitioners in Norway receive the vast majority of their drug information from pharmaceutical companies. This study quantifies that 90.2% of all drug information originates from these industry sources.
Area of Science:
- Medical Sciences
- Pharmaceutical Sciences
- Health Services Research
Background:
- A prevalent perception exists that pharmaceutical manufacturers dominate the provision of drug information to general practitioners.
- The precise extent of this industry-provided information has not been previously quantified in Norway.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify the proportion of drug information received by general practitioners in Norway that originates from pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Main Methods:
- A prospective registration of all written drug information received by a general practitioner throughout 1999 was conducted.
- Data collection involved systematically recording all materials pertaining to pharmaceutical products.
Main Results:
- A total of 5,669 pages of drug information were received by the general practitioner.
- A significant majority, 5,115 pages (90.2%), originated from drug manufacturers.
- On average, the practitioner received 12 pages of drug advertisements and information on six different pharmaceutical products daily.
Conclusions:
- The study confirms that the pharmaceutical industry is the primary source of drug information for general practitioners in Norway.
- This highlights a substantial reliance on industry-generated content for clinical decision-making.