Abstract
In a US population-based study, Hadland and colleagues investigated associations between direct-to-physician marketing of opioid medications by pharmaceutical companies and mortality from prescription opioid overdoses. They included data on marketing (Aug 1, 2013 to Dec 31, 2015) and mortality (Aug 1, 2014 to Dec 31, 2016) in their county-level analysis. Greater marketing expenditure on opioid products was associated with increased risk of mortality from prescription opioid overdoses (adjusted relative risk [aRR] per 1 SD increase in marketing value in dollars per capita 1·09, 95% CI 1·05–1·12), with particularly high risks associated with the number of payments to physicians per capita (aRR 1·18; 1·14–1·21). Prescribing rates of opioids also increased with opioid marketing, and further analysis suggested that prescribing rates facilitated the effect of marketing on mortality.
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