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Direct-to-Consumer Ads Increase Prescribing of Psychiatric Drugs
Asking for a psychiatric medication seen advertised on TV is likely to result in a patient’s receiving a prescription, according to findings from systematic review in the online Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.
The review, which investigated the effect of direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) on patient requests for psychiatric medication and physician prescribing, initially identified 989 studies for potential inclusion, 69 of which received a full-text review. However, just 4 studies met the review’s inclusion criteria.
Researcher Sara J. Becker, PhD, said she conducted the review in part to learn techniques for the effective marketing of nonpharmaceutical treatments, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, for psychiatric disorders. She also expressed surprise at the lack of studies addressing the influence of DTCA on requests for and subsequent prescribing of psychiatric drugs.
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"We expected to find a lot more studies," Dr Becker told Medscape. "One of the biggest take-aways for us was how little data there really was."
As a result, the study’s conclusions lacked strong confidence.
With moderate confidence, however, the researchers reported that most of the time DTCA requests are granted by physicians and result in a higher prescribing volume. For patients with depression, DTCA requests promote greater adherence to minimally acceptable treatment guidelines, according to the review. For patients with an adjustment disorder, DTCA requests lead to overprescribing.
One randomized controlled trial and 3 observational studies were included in the review.
The randomized controlled trial used standardized patient actors presenting with depression or an adjustment disorder. Some of the actors requested a specific drug, some requested a type of drug, and some did not request any drug, according to Medscape. The observational studies tracked patient requests for medications that included but were not limited to psychiatric drugs.
“Findings suggest that DTCA requests are typically accommodated, promote higher prescribing volume, and have competing effects on treatment quality,” researchers concluded. “More methodologically strong studies are needed to increase confidence in conclusions.”—Jolynn Tumolo
References:
Anderson P. Direct-to-consumer ads boost psychiatric drug use. Medscape. September 19, 2016.
