Medicine’s Data Gap: Doctors, Too, Ask: Is This Drug Right? (NY Times, free reg. req’d)

Across the country, doctors are struggling to decide which pain relievers to prescribe now that they know that popular drugs like Vioxx and Celebrex pose potentially serious heart risks. “We are desperately in need of information,” said Dr. Stephen Brenner, an internist in New Haven. Yet for at least two years, doctors at the Mayo Clinic, the federal Veterans Affairs Department and the Kaiser Permanente health plan have been sharply limiting their use of Vioxx and Celebrex.

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That is because those three institutions, after undertaking separate reviews of test data available on various painkillers, reached the same conclusion: For most patients, Vioxx, Celebrex and a related drug, Bextra, did not work any better than older pain relievers or provide any safety benefits beyond them.

You may be surprised to know that many newer psychopharmacological drugs and antidepressants haven’t shown that they are more effective than older ones, either. Doctors often prescribe them because they are new, not because they worker better.

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 30 Dec 2004
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