title: Cyberdrugs: a cross-sectional study of online pharmacies characteristics.
abstract: As e-commerce and online pharmacies (OPs) arose, the potential impact of the Internet on the world of health shifted from merely the spread of information to a real opportunity to acquire health services directly. Aim of the study was to investigate the offer of prescription drugs in OPs, analysing their characteristics, using the content analysis method. The research performed using the Google search engine led to an analysis of 118 online pharmacies. Only 51 (43.2%) of them stated their precise location. Ninety-six (81.4%) online pharmacies did not require a medical prescription from the customer's physician. Online pharmacies rise complex issues in terms of patient-doctor relationship, consumer empowerment, drug quality, regulation and public health implications.
authors.affiliation: Section of Hygiene Epidemiology and Public Health, Department of Experimental and Applied Medicine, University of Brescia, 25128 Brescia, Italy. gorizio@med.unibs.it
authors.forename: Grazia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Orizio
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schulz
authors.forename: Serena
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Domenighini
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Caimi
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rosati
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rubinelli
authors.forename: Umberto
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Gelatti
mesh_terms: D003132:Commerce; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D020407:Internet; D010593:Pharmaceutical Services / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D011634:Public Health