Health Recommendations Affected by Industry Ties

According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, many doctors involved in setting guidelines and recommendations for the treatment of disease may have inappropriate ties with the pharmaceutical industry.

Researchers surveyed 100 authors of guidelines for the treatment of diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma and other conditions and 87% reported having some link with a pharmaceutical company. 59% reported specific links with companies whose medications were mentioned in the guidelines they drew up.

38% of respondents had been employed or acted as consultants for a pharmaceutical company while more than half had received funding for medical research.

More worryingly, 7% admitted their relationship may have influenced their own recommendations and 19% claimed their co-authors may have been swayed by industry ties. 48% of doctors declined to take part in the study.

Edith Maskell of Bromley Health Management commented, "You have to be very careful in reading between the lines for any guidelines or research studies. Why are the authors doing the study in the first place, and will that affect their recommendations? That goes equally for news items and books".

Tuesday, 12 March 2002