Effects of Direct-To-Consumer Advertising on Patient Prescription Requests and Physician Prescribing: A Systematic Review of Psychiatry-Relevant Studies

Objective: To systematically analyze the effects of direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) on patient requests for medication and physician prescribing across psychiatry-relevant studies.

Data Sources: MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Thomson Reuters’ ISI Web of Knowledge, and Google Scholar were searched (1999-2014) using variations of the terms direct-to-consumer advertising and psychiatric. Reference lists and an online repository of DTCA manuscripts were also scrutinized.

Study Selection: English-language studies collecting data at the point of service, focusing on or including psychiatric medication, and assessing the effects of DTCA on patient and/or physician behavior were included. Of 989 articles identified, 69 received full-text review. Four studies across 5 manuscripts met inclusion criteria.

Data Extraction: Data were extracted on participants, study design, methodological quality, and results. Methodological quality of individual studies was assessed using adapted criteria from the Effective Public Health Practice Project. Confidence in conclusions across studies was determined using principles from the well-established GRADE system.

Findings: Due to lack of replication across strong randomized controlled trials (RCTs), no conclusions merited high confidence. With moderate confidence, we concluded that DTCA requests (1) are granted most of the time (1 RCT, 3 observational), (2) prompt higher prescribing volume (1 RCT, 1 observational), (3) promote greater adherence to minimally acceptable treatment guidelines for patients with depression (1 RCT), and (4) stimulate overprescribing among patients with an adjustment disorder (1 RCT).

Conclusions: Findings suggest that DTCA requests are typically accommodated, promote higher prescribing volume, and have competing effects on treatment quality. More methodologically strong studies are needed to increase confidence in conclusions.