Table.
Details from questionnaires given to patients and physicians regarding requests for prescription drugs
| Factors associated with requests |
Patients who requested ⩾1 drug (any drug)
|
Patients who requested ⩾1 direct advertised drug
|
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No (%) of patients | Odds ratio (95% CI)* | No (%) of patients | Odds ratio (95% CI)* | ||
| Does the patient believe a new prescription was needed? | |||||
| Yes | 75/264 (28.4) | 4.2 (2.9 to 6.1) | 39/264 (14.8) | 5.5 (3.2 to 9.5) | |
| No | 100/1167 (8.1) | 35/1167 (3.0) | |||
| Has the patient requested drugs before? | |||||
| Yes | 67/348 (19.3) | 2.0 (1.5 to 2.8) | 32/348 (9.2) | 2.3 (1.4 to 3.7) | |
| No | 108/1083 (10.0) | 52/1083 (4.8) | |||
| Does the patient have a condition treatable by an advertised drug? | |||||
| Yes | 67/365 (18.4) | 1.9 (1.4 to 2.8) | 38/365 (10.4) | 3.1 (2.0 to 4.9) | |
| No | 108/1066 (10.1) | 36/1066 (3.4) | |||
| Does the patient use advertising as an information source? | |||||
| Yes | 17/84 (20.2) | 1.6 (0.9 to 2.8) | 13/84 (15.5) | 3.2 (1.8 to 6.0) | |
| No | 158/1347 (11.7) | 61/1347 (4.5) | |||
| Does the patient recall having seen adverts for at least three of six listed drugs? | |||||
| Yes | 123/800 (15.4) | 1.7 (1.2 to 2.4) | 56/800 (7.0) | 2.0 (1.1 to 3.6) | |
| No | 52/631 (8.2) | 18/631 (2.9) | |||
| Does the patient recall seeing more than five prescription drugs advertised in the past year? | |||||
| Yes | 111/822 (13.5) | 1.3 (0.9 to 1.9) | 54/822 (6.6) | 2.2 (1.3 to 3.8) | |
| No | 64/609 (10.5) | 20/609 (3.3) | |||
| Total requests | 175/1431 (12.2) | 74/1431 (5.2) | |||
| Requested drug prescribed | 128/1431 (8.9) | 55/1431 (3.8) | |||
*
Odds ratios adjusted for age, sex, health status, income, drug payment, and cluster sampling.