Survey finds ‘at-risk’ buy into medical ads

Medicine advertisements are causing prescription drugs to be overused and misused, often by people who don’t need them, a New Zealand-led study has found.

Direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs – ‘‘ask your doctor if x is right for you’’ television commercials – is only allowed in two countries: New Zealand and the United States.

A study of more than 2000 New Zealanders by the University of Otago found those with ‘‘unhealthier’’ lifestyles were more likely to buy into medical marketing for conditions that could otherwise be improved by exercising, eating healthier and cutting back on alcohol.

Researchers are now calling for regulatory changes regarding the advertising of medicines and say lifestyle changes should be advertised as potential substitutes.

The research, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health yesterday, was carried out by PhD student Neda Khalil Zadeh and supervisor Dr Kirsten Robertson, a senior lecturer in marketing at the University of Otago.

Researchers from the University of Limerick were also involved in the study.

Data was collected online from 2057 New Zealand adults as part of a larger research project on consumer behaviour and lifestyle, in 2013.

Participants were asked about their lifestyle behaviours, including nutritional habits, alcohol and illegal drug consumption, physical activity, attitudes towards exercise, as well as demographic and socioeconomic status.

Asking a doctor about a specific drug was linked to age, higher alcohol consumption, more illegal drug use, lower education, lower income and doing less exercise, the research found.

Negative attitudes towards doing exercise also influenced asking a doctor for a prescription.

Asking a pharmacist for more information about a drug was linked to older age, illegal drug consumption, doing less exercise and less healthy eating habits.

People of ethnic minorities – Ma¯ ori, Chinese, Indian, Pacific Islands and ‘‘other’’ ethnicities – were more likely to ask a pharmacist about an advertised drug than New Zealand Europeans.

The findings of the study raised concerns about the ethics of direct-toconsumer advertising, co-author Robertson said.

In the US, medical marketing was regulated.

In New Zealand, advertisements were not independently evaluated for the quality and validity of scientific statements unless someone complained, the research said.

‘‘The public just assume drugs that are being advertised are more effective and are really safe,’’ but that wasn’t necessarily the case, she said.

As a result people were ‘‘coming in asking [doctors] for drugs for illnesses they don’t have, or it’s not appropriate to give them’’.

It also encouraged the ‘‘medicalisation’’ of normal conditions, and prompted people to choose medications over healthy lifestyle choices, the research said.

A spokeswoman for the Association of New Zealand Advertisers said all advertisements for therapeutic products were assessed by the Therapeutic Advertising Pre-vetting Service, administered by the ANZA.

Medicines also could not be advertised unless Medsafe had ruled the medicine safe, the spokeswoman said.

Robertson said the finding that people with less healthy lifestyles were more likely to be influenced by directto-consumer advertising was of ‘‘significant concern’’.

People very rarely got all the information they need about a medicine from an ad, Robertson said.

Robertson said marketing for prescription drugs should state there were other options available and that lifestyle or health and nutrition changes could be more beneficial.

In October, GP and MP Dr Shane Reti called on the government to ban medicine advertising.

‘‘From a prescriber’s perspective, I don’t know of one GP who has any time or thinks there’s any benefit whatsoever from direct-to-consumer advertising. We don’t practice medicine off the television,’’ he said at the time.

Marketing for prescription drugs should state there were other options available and that lifestyle or health and nutrition changes could be more beneficial.

Dr Kirsten Robertson