94% of physicians have a financial relationship with the pharmaceutical industry. Could this affect their judgement when prescribing drugs?

This study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine 2007 Apr 26;356(17):1742-50

 

Study title and authors:

A national survey of physician-industry relationships.

Campbell EG, Gruen RL, Mountford J, Miller LG, Cleary PD, Blumenthal D.

Institute for Health Policy, Massachusetts General Hospital-Partners Health Care System and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA. ecampbell@partners.org

 

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17460228

This study investigated the financial associations of physicians with the pharmaceutical and other medically related industries. The study included 3,167 physicians.

The study found:
(a) 83% of physicians received gifts from the pharmaceutical industry (including food and beverages in the workplace and tickets to cultural and sporting events).
(b) 78% of physicians received drug samples from the pharmaceutical industry.
(c) 35% of physicians received reimbursement for costs associated with professional meetings or continuing medical education from the pharmaceutical industry.
(d) 28% of physicians received payments for consulting, giving lectures, or enrolling patients in trials from the pharmaceutical industry.
(e) Overall, 94% of physicians reported some type of relationship with the pharmaceutical industry.

Most physicians (94%) reported some type of relationship with the pharmaceutical industry.

Could this affect their judgement when they prescribe drugs or give advice?