The quantity and quality of scientific graphs in pharmaceutical advertisements.
We characterized the quantity and quality of graphs in all pharmaceutical advertisements, in the 10 U.S. medical journals. Four hundred eighty-four unique advertisements (of 3,185 total advertisements) contained 836 glossy and 455 small-print pages. Forty-nine percent of glossy page area was nonscientific figures/images, 0.4% tables, and 1.6% scientific graphs (74 graphs in 64 advertisements). All 74 graphs were univariate displays, 4% were distributions, and 4% contained confidence intervals for summary measures. Extraneous decoration (66%) and redundancy (46%) were common. Fifty-eight percent of graphs presented an outcome relevant to the drug's indication. Numeric distortion, specifically prohibited by FDA regulations, occurred in 36% of graphs.
Cooper
Richelle J
RJ
Received from UCLA Emergency Medicine Center, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, Calif. 90024, USA. richelle@ucla.edu
Schriger
David L
DL
Wallace
Roger C
RC
Mikulich
Vladislav J
VJ
Wilkes
Michael S
MS
D000329:Advertising / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015706:Bibliometrics; D004345:Drug Industry / Q000592:standards*; D035082:Federal Government; D033161:Government Regulation; D006801:Humans; D008488:Medical Illustration; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000592:standards; D028743:Professional Misconduct; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014481:United States
D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations