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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- The next time youre reading a medical news article; you may need to read between the lines to get the whole story.
Results of a new report reveal journalists very often dont disclose funding of studies by pharmaceutical companies -- information that could indicate commercial bias in medical research. Also misleading to readers is the common practice of writing medical news stories using a drugs brand name instead of its generic name -- a practice that can also lead to commercial bias.
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Researchers looked at 306 news articles from newspapers and online news sites about company-funded medication studies. Journalists did not disclose funding sources in 42 percent of the articles. Additionally, 38 percent only referred to drugs by their brand names and 67 percent used brand names at least half of the medication references.
For patients and physicians to evaluate new research findings, it is important that they know how the research was funded so they can assess whether commercial biases may have affected the results, study authors write in their report. Additionally, the use of generic medication names by the news media is preferable so that physicians and patients learn to refer to medications by their generic names, a practice that is likely to reduce medication errors and may decrease unnecessary health care costs.
SOURCE: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2008
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