Who really determines your patients' prescriptions?

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The authors deplore a recent incident that highlights the impact of the media and the pharmaceutical industry on the practice of medicine. The publication of a study comparing the changes in cholesterol levels and glucose metabolism of hypertensive patients treated with a diuretic and with an angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (captopril) was publicized by the pharmaceutical company that manufactures the latter drug. Alarmed by popular media reports that diuretics could raise heart attack risks, thousands of hypertensive patients being treated with diuretics contacted their physicians. A decrease in the number of new prescriptions for oral diuretics occurred in the months after the study's release. Citing data to show that diuretic therapy is still safe, effective, and relatively inexpensive in the management of hypertension, the authors call for physicians to take a stand against prescribing pressures generated by the media and by pharmaceutical industry promotion campaigns.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: