Television Drug Ads Sell Statins

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) prescription drug advertisements have become a television fixture since regulations surrounding their use were relaxed in 1997. Back then, some commentators noted hopefully that, by raising patient awareness of various medical conditions, these ads actually might improve public health. A new study suggests otherwise.

Researchers correlated data from a private media registry that tracks local airing details of TV advertisements with data from a nationally representative survey that measures socioeconomic variables, including TV watching behavior and some health indexes. About 15% of >100,000 U.S. adults polled between 2001 and 2007 reported having high cholesterol levels, and about 10% were taking statins (both consis…