{"id":648,"date":"2019-04-14T07:15:39","date_gmt":"2019-04-14T15:15:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.drugalcoholrehabnow.com\/blog\/?p=648"},"modified":"2019-04-14T07:15:42","modified_gmt":"2019-04-14T15:15:42","slug":"opioid-marketing-to-doctors-linked-to-increased-overdoses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drugalcoholrehabnow.com\/blog\/index.php\/opioid-addiction\/opioid-marketing-to-doctors-linked-to-increased-overdoses\/","title":{"rendered":"Opioid Marketing to Doctors Linked to Increased Overdoses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"doctors\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The US opioid crisis, almost on a daily\nbasis, produces stories that would make one\u2019s blood run cold. It\u2019s one of the\nmost damaging parts of modern US life and is driving many good people to\ndespair. The latest story, then, is likely to cause even more anger and\noutrage. A recent study linked doctors who received more meals, trips and\nconsultancy fees from opioid makers had a higher rate of opioid deaths thank to\nprescription opioids. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is some of the strongest evidence to\ncome out that shows a link between the marketing of opioids to doctors, and the\nrapid rise of the opioid crisis. Naturally, the study caused mass consternation\non both sides of the debate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study, though, found some alarming\ninformation. There was a clear link between counties which offered gifts and\npayments to doctors and larger amounts of overdose deaths. In counties where\nmarketing to doctors and physicians was less prevalent, overdose rates were\nsmaller. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study, published as part of JAMA\nNetwork Open and put together by experts at the Boston Medical Center and New\nYork University School of Medicine, showed some terrifying insights into how\nthis process works. From 2013-2015, it found that around $40m was spent\npromoting opioid medications to around 68,000 doctors. This included paying for\nfood, trips and also consultancy costs to these doctors. Depressingly, it also\nfound that for every three extra payments made to doctors, per 100,000 people\nin a county, overdose deaths were increasing by as much as 18%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, the study shoed that around 1 in\n12 doctors were subject to such marketing \u2013 and 1 in 5 doctors within family\npractices. Of course, there was a clear response from the American Academy of\nFamily Physicians, when President Dr. John Cullen noted: \u201cA limitation of the\nstudy, as acknowledged by the authors, is the many unknown variables that\nprevent drawing a direct causal link between pharmaceutical marketing and\nopioid-related deaths.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Limited\nbut worrying<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Of course, the study team and authors did\nacknowledge some of these issues. One problem is the inability to differentiate\nbetween overdose deaths via prescription opioids, and illegally received\npainkillers. Lead author of the study, Dr. Scott Hadland, said: \u201cWe acknowledge\nthat our work describes only one part of the very complex opioid overdose\ncrisis in this country,\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study did, though, notice a\ncorrelation between free meals provided to doctors and higher overdose rates.\nThis was even more than the correlation between overdose rates and the amount\nof money spent on marketing. Each meal, according to Dr. Hadland, \u201cseems to be\nassociated with more and more prescriptions,\u201d which is a worrying trend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hopefully, more states will follow the\nlead of New Jersey, who brought in a $10,000 per doctor, per year limit for\nmarketing. The most important thing, though, will be to see a noticeable\ndrop-off in the number of interactions between medical professionals and these\ncompanies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source<\/strong>
\n
\nhttps:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/01\/18\/health\/opioids-doctors-overdose-deaths.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The US opioid crisis, almost on a daily basis, produces stories that would make one\u2019s blood run cold. It\u2019s one of the most damaging parts of modern US life and is driving many good people to despair. The latest story, then, is likely to cause even more anger and outrage. A recent study linked doctors […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opioid-addiction"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t