title: Quality of pharmaceutical advertising and gender bias in medical journals (1998-2008): a review of the scientific literature.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To review the scientific literature on pharmaceutical advertising aimed at health professionals in order to determine whether gender bias has decreased and the quality of information in pharmaceutical advertising has improved over time.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a content analysis of original articles dealing with medical drug promotion (1998-2008), according to quality criteria such as (a) the number, validity and accessibility of bibliographic references provided in pharmaceutical advertising and (b) the extent to which gender representations were consistent with the prevalence of the diseases. Databases: PUBMED, Medline, Scopus, Sociological Abstract, Eric and LILACS.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We reviewed 31 articles that analyzed advertising in medical journals from 1975-2005 and were published between 1998 and 2008. We found that the number of references used to support pharmaceutical advertising claims increased from 1975 but that 50% of these references were not valid. There was a tendency to depict men in paid productive roles, while women appeared inside the home or in non-occupational social contexts. Advertisements for psychotropic and cardiovascular drugs overrepresented women and men respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The use of bibliographic references increased between 1998 and 2008. However, representation of traditional male-female roles was similar in 1975 and 2005. Pharmaceutical advertisements may contribute to reinforcing the perception that certain diseases are associated with the most frequently portrayed sex.
authors.affiliation: Communication and Social Psychology Department, University of Alicante, San Vicente del Raspeig (Alicante), Spain. belen.cambronero@ua.es
authors.forename: Belén
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cambronero Saiz
authors.forename: María Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Ruiz Cantero
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Papí Gálvez
mesh_terms: D000329:Advertising / Q000592:standards*; D004345:Drug Industry; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010506:Periodicals as Topic; D063507:Sexism; D013997:Time Factors