2024 Volume 50 Issue 7 Pages 319-327
Drug safety is frequently reported by several mass media outlets, and most medical professionals consult patients based on these media reports. Meanwhile, medical professionals are only aware of patients who have opted for “consultation,” and there may be many patients who have potential anxiety but have not consulted medical professionals. Therefore, this questionnaire survey aimed to clarify the impact of such media reports from the patients’ perspective. In this study, we targeted two populations: patients who responded to a questionnaire panel registered with an Internet research company (Internet panel), and patients who visited community pharmacies. On the Internet panel, a preliminary survey was conducted to identify those who experienced anxiety due to mass media reports, and then a main survey was conducted to collect more details. Of the 3,825 patients who responded to the Internet panel in the preliminary survey, 1,137 (29.7％) had experienced anxiety after receiving drug-related information from mass media. Of these, 525 participated in the main survey. In the survey conducted at community pharmacies, 109 of the 254 respondents (42.9％) experienced anxiety. In both surveys, approximately half of the respondents had never consulted others (such as medical care professionals) regarding their anxieties. Among the respondents who experienced anxiety, 127 (24.2％) and 13 (12.0％) had self-adjusted their doses or discontinued medications, respectively, because of anxiety caused by mass media reports. These results suggest that mass media reports may interfere with appropriate drug therapy.
