SynthesisBMJ open2017
Interactions between physicians and the pharmaceutical industry generally and sales representatives specifically and their association with physicians' attitudes and prescribing habits: a systematic review.
Synthesis in BMJ open, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 117 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
117 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pharmaceutical policies: effects of policies regulating drug marketing.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- Interactions with the pharmaceutical industry and the practice, knowledge and beliefs of medical oncologists and clinical haematologists: a systematic review.British journal of cancer · 2022Pooled it
- Are Financial Payments From the Pharmaceutical Industry Associated With Physician Prescribing? : A Systematic Review.Annals of internal medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Doctors taking bribes from pharmaceutical companies is common and not substantially reduced by an educational intervention: a pragmatic randomised controlled trial in Pakistan.BMJ global health · 2025Trial
- Navigating the Prescription Drug Information System.Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics · 2026Review
- Money, Meals, and Marketing in Medicine: A 13-Year Follow-Up Survey of Physicians.Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics · 2026Article
- Food industry's interactions with nutrition professionals in Australia: a survey.Public health nutrition · 2026Article
- Clinicians' Reactions to Point-of-Care Advertising in Electronic Health Records.Therapeutic innovation & regulatory science · 2026Article
- Mapping the Influence of Commercial Detailing on Prescribing Decisions: A Scoping Review.Cureus · 2026Review
- Pediatricians Facing Industry-Sponsored Pressures: Key Ethical Considerations.Indian pediatrics · 2026Review
- Article
- Design Principles for Interactive Dashboards in Drug Safety Surveillance: Design Science Research.JMIR medical informatics · 2026Article
- Empowering Patient Autonomy: The Role of Large Language Models (LLMs) in Scaffolding Informed Consent in Medical Practice.Bioethics · 2026Article
- Assessment of bioethics education, ethical awareness, and training needs among physicians in Jordan.Global bioethics = Problemi di bioetica · 2026Article
- Economic implications of the different statin prescribing patterns in Central Portugal: a longitudinal analysis.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2026Article
- Pharmaceutical marketing and patient trust: How do doctor-targeted campaigns affect patients?PloS one · 2026Article
- Evidence of lithium underuse in bipolar disorder: analysis of lithium and antipsychotic consumption, prediction of future trends, regional disparities and indicators of rational and inappropriate use in Europe.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2025Article
- Scenario-Based Ethical Reasoning Among Healthcare Trainees and Practitioners: Evidence from Dental and Medical Cohorts in Romania.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Understanding "interests": historical insights for managing conflicts of interest in healthcare and biomedical science.Medicine, health care, and philosophy · 2025Review
- CC360 Pearl: Interacting with Industry for the New Gastroenterologist.Crohn's & colitis 360 · 2025Article
57 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesThe objective of this review is to explore interactions between physicians and the pharmaceutical industry including sales representatives and their impact on physicians' attitude and prescribing habits. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library and Google scholar electronic databases were searched from 1992 to August 2016 using free-text words and medical subject headings relevant to the topic. STUDY SELECTION: Studies included cross-sectional studies, cohort studies, randomised trials and survey designs. Studies with narrative reviews, case reports, opinion polls and letters to the editor were excluded from data synthesis. DATA EXTRACTION: Two reviewers independently extracted the data. Data on study design, study year, country, participant characteristics, setting and number of participants were collected. DATA SYNTHESIS: Pharmaceutical industry and pharmaceutical sales representative (PSR) interactions influence physicians' attitudes and their prescribing behaviour and increase the number of formulary addition requests for the company's drug.
conclusionPhysician-pharmaceutical industry and its sales representative's interactions and acceptance of gifts from the company's PSRs have been found to affect physicians' prescribing behaviour and are likely to contribute to irrational prescribing of the company's drug. Therefore, intervention in the form of policy implementation and education about the implications of these interactions is needed.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.