Table 3.

Information provided in drug advertisements in Nigerian and other African medical journals.

Drug information	Nigerian journal		Other African Journal
	n =79	(%)	n = 103	(%)	P-value
Drug name
Brand and generic	69	87.3	74	78.6	0.789
Brand name only	6	7.6	29	28.2	<0.001*
Generic name only	4	5.1	0	0.0	0.034*
Pharmacological information
Clinical indications	70	88.6	87	84.5	0.517
Pharmacological effects	47	59.5	35	33.9	<0.001*
Mode of action	14	17.7	13	12.6	0.402
Pharmacokinetics	3	3.8	4	3.9	0.999
Clinical information
Adults and children dosage	37	46.8	39	37.9	0.230
Use in special situations	39	49.4	31	30.1	0.009*
Adverse effects	27	34.2	31	30.1	0.631
Average duration of treatment	20	25.3	35	33.9	0.255
Potential for interaction with other drugs	17	21.5	19	18.4	0.708
Pharmaceutical information
Available dosage forms	58	73.4	68	66.0	0.332
Product and package description	57	72.2	39	37.9	<0.001*
Pack sizes	27	34.2	35	33.9	0.999
Route of administration	28	35.4	33	32.0	0.638
Addition of additives	1	1.3	18	17.5	<0.001*
Storage conditions	3	3.8	8	7.8	0.354
Content and quality of each route	4	5.1	5	4.8	0.999
Shelf life	0	0.0	1	0.9	0.999
Expiration date	0	0.0	0	0.0	1.000
Legal aspects
Name and address of the manufacturer	53	67.1	68	66.0	0.999
Alternative sources of information about the drugs	35	44.3	25	24.3	0.004*
Presence of registration or NAFDAC number	21	26.6	34	33.0	0.416
Abridged prescription information	25	31.6	30	29.1	0.746
References	4	5.0	34	33.0	<0.001*
Name and address of the marketer	23	29.1	14	13.6	0.015*
Indicating if drug is prescription drug or not	12	15.2	10	9.7	0.359
Web address of the manufacturer	2	2.5	16	15.5	<0.005*

^*Significant P values