Are financial payments from the pharmaceutical industry associated with physician prescribing? A systematic review Review

   


Authors: Mitchell, A. P.; Trivedi, N. U.; Gennarelli, R. L.; Chimonas, S.; Tabatabai, S. M.; Goldberg, J.; Diaz, L. A. Jr; Korenstein, D.
Review Title: Are financial payments from the pharmaceutical industry associated with physician prescribing? A systematic review
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Financial payments from the drug industry to U.S. physicians are common. Payments may influence physicians' clinical decision making and drug prescribing. PURPOSE: To evaluate whether receipt of payments from the drug industry is associated with physician prescribing practices. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and EconLit were searched without language restrictions. The search had no limiting start date and concluded on 16 September 2020. STUDY SELECTION: Studies that estimated the association between receipt of industry payments (exposure) and prescribing (outcome). DATA EXTRACTION: Pairs of reviewers extracted the primary analysis or analyses from each study and evaluated risk of bias (ROB). DATA SYNTHESIS: Thirty-six studies comprising 101 analyses were included. Most studies (n = 30) identified a positive association between payments and prescribing in all analyses; the remainder (n = 6) had a mix of positive and null findings. No study had only null findings. Of 101 individual analyses, 89 identified a positive association. Payments were associated with increased prescribing of the paying company's drug, increased prescribing costs, and increased prescribing of branded drugs. Nine studies assessed and found evidence of a temporal association; 25 assessed and found evidence of a dose-response relationship. LIMITATION: The design was observational, 21 of 36 studies had serious ROB, and publication bias was possible. CONCLUSION: The association between industry payments and physician prescribing was consistent across all studies that have evaluated this association. Findings regarding a temporal association and dose-response suggest a causal relationship. PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE: National Cancer Institute.
Journal Title: Annals of Internal Medicine
Volume: 174
Issue: 3
ISSN: 0003-4819
Publisher: American College of Physicians  
Date Published: 2021-03-01
Start Page: 353
End Page: 361
Language: English
DOI: 10.7326/m20-5665
PUBMED: 33226858
PROVIDER: scopus
PMCID: PMC8315858
DOI/URL:

https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85102964589&doi=10.7326%2fM20-5665&partnerID=40&md5=c1280e85dee953bae4ac53b52f5107f9
Notes: Article -- Export Date: 1 April 2021 -- Source: Scopus
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MSK Authors
  1. Deborah Korenstein
    129 Korenstein
  2. Renee Lynn Gennarelli
    32 Gennarelli
  3. Susan Chimonas
    59 Chimonas
  4. Luis Alberto Diaz
    149 Diaz
  5. Johanna E Goldberg
    13 Goldberg
  6. Aaron Philip Mitchell
    60 Mitchell
  7. Sara Tabatabai
    15 Tabatabai
  8. Niti U Trivedi
    8 Trivedi
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