Observational studyBMJ (Clinical research ed.)2019
Association between gifts from pharmaceutical companies to French general practitioners and their drug prescribing patterns in 2016: retrospective study using the French Transparency in Healthcare and National Health Data System databases.
Observational study in BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 29 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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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
29 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 71 citations in OpenAlex.
- Are Financial Payments From the Pharmaceutical Industry Associated With Physician Prescribing? : A Systematic Review.Annals of internal medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Medical Device Industry Payments to Healthcare Professionals in Japan: A Descriptive Analysis of Scale, Distribution, and Transparency Based on 2019 Disclosure Data.Journal of evaluation in clinical practice · 2026Article
- Surgical society committee members disclosure of conflict of interest: show me the money.Surgical endoscopy · 2026Article
- The use of generic versus brand names in (clinical) pharmacology education across Europe: a cross-sectional survey.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2026Article
- Reforming the white coat economy: judicial evidence and institutional implications from China's healthcare anti-corruption campaign.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Factors influencing inappropriate antibiotic prescription in respiratory tract infections in general practice.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Understanding "interests": historical insights for managing conflicts of interest in healthcare and biomedical science.Medicine, health care, and philosophy · 2025Review
- Generic dispensing rates for substitutable drugs prescribed by general practitioners compared with other private ambulatory specialists: A study based on a French national reimbursement database.The European journal of general practice · 2024Article
- Article
- Healthcare consumers' perceptions of incentive-linked prescribing: A scoping review.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Prescription opioids and economic hardship in France.The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care · 2023Article
- Industry payments to family medicine residents in Portugal: a descriptive analysis of the national transparency database.BMJ open · 2023Article
- Transparency of clinical practice guideline funding: a cross-sectional analysis of the German AWMF registry.BMC medical ethics · 2023Article
- Pharmaceutical payments to Japanese board-certified dermatologists: a 4-year retrospective analysis of personal payments from pharmaceutical companies between 2016 and 2019.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Cross-sectional analysis of pharmaceutical payments to Japanese board-certified gastroenterologists between 2016 and 2019.BMJ open · 2023Article
- International comparison of pharmaceutical industry payment disclosures in the UK and Japan: implications for self-regulation, public regulation, and transparency.Globalization and health · 2023Article
- Article
- Article
- Pharmaceutical Payments to Japanese Board-Certified Infectious Disease Specialists: A Four-Year Retrospective Analysis of Payments from 92 Pharmaceutical Companies between 2016 and 2019.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Awareness and Perceptions among Members of a Japanese Cancer Patient Advocacy Group Concerning the Financial Relationships between the Pharmaceutical Industry and Physicians.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Commented on by
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo evaluate the association between gifts from pharmaceutical companies to French general practitioners (GPs) and their drug prescribing patterns.
designRetrospective study using data from two French databases (National Health Data System, managed by the French National Health Insurance system, and Transparency in Healthcare).
settingPrimary care, France.
participants41 257 GPs who in 2016 worked exclusively in the private sector and had at least five registered patients. The GPs were divided into six groups according to the monetary value of the received gifts reported by pharmaceutical, medical device, and other health related companies in the Transparency in Healthcare database.
main outcome measuresThe main outcome measures were the amount reimbursed by the French National Health Insurance for drug prescriptions per visit (to the practice or at home) and 11 drug prescription efficiency indicators used by the National Health Insurance to calculate the performance related financial incentives of the doctors. Doctor and patient characteristics were used as adjustment variables. The significance threshold was 0.001 for statistical analyses.
resultsThe amount reimbursed by the National Health Insurance for drug prescriptions per visit was lower in the GP group with no gifts reported in the Transparency in Healthcare database in 2016 and since its launch in 2013 (no gift group) compared with the GP groups with at least one gift in 2016 (-€5.33 (99.9% confidence interval -€6.99 to -€3.66) compared with the GP group with gifts valued at €1000 or more reported in 2016) (P<0.001). The no gift group also more frequently prescribed generic antibiotics (2.17%, 1.47% to 2.88% compared with the ≥€1000 group), antihypertensives (4.24%, 3.72% to 4.77% compared with the ≥€1000 group), and statins (12.14%, 11.03% to 13.26% compared with the ≥€1000 group) than GPs with at least one gift between 2013 and 2016 (P<0.001). The no gift group also prescribed fewer benzodiazepines for more than 12 weeks (-0.68%, -1.13% to -0.23% compared with the €240-€999 group) and vasodilators (-0.15%, -0.28% to -0.03% compared with the ≥€1000 group) than GPs with gifts valued at €240 or more reported in 2016, and more angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors compared with all ACE and sartan prescriptions (1.67%, 0.62% to 2.71%) compared with GPs with gifts valued at €1000 or more reported in 2016 (P<0.001). Differences were not significant for the prescription of aspirin and generic antidepressants and generic proton pump inhibitors.
conclusionThe findings suggest that French GPs who do not receive gifts from pharmaceutical companies have better drug prescription efficiency indicators and less costly drug prescriptions than GPs who receive gifts. This observational study is susceptible to residual confounding and therefore no causal relation can be concluded.
trial registrationOSF register OSF.IO/8M3QR.
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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.