French researchers have independently observed that studies published in prestigious journals often don’t tell enough about adverse drug effects. They reviewed over 100 reports of randomized controlled drug trials and discovered that one quarter of the articles left out severe side effects. Nearly half the articles did not report on patients who withdrew from the clinical trials and only 12 percent described the reason for patients pulling out of a clinical trial due to side effects. The investigators conclude that way in which harmful drug effects are described in medical journals may obscure some important rare and potentially severe adverse reactions. An accompanying editorial in the Archives of Internal Medicine postulates that conflicts of interest and marketing pressure may override science in the presentation of information from randomized clinical trials.
[Archives of Internal Medicine, Oct. 26, 2009]
The People's Perspective on Medicine