Social Media Promotion of Health Tests With Potential for Overdiagnosis or Overuse: Protocol for a Content Analysis.

Background: In recent years, social media have emerged as important spaces for commercial marketing of health tests, which can be used for the screening and diagnosis of otherwise generally healthy people. However, little is known about how health tests are promoted on social media, whether the information provided is accurate and balanced, and if there is transparency around conflicts of interest.

Objective: This study aims to understand and quantify how social media is being used to discuss or promote health tests with the potential for overdiagnosis or overuse to generally healthy people.

Low-Value Surgical Procedures in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Scoping Review.

Importance: Overuse of surgical procedures is increasing around the world and harms both individuals and health care systems by using resources that could otherwise be allocated to addressing the underuse of effective health care interventions. In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), there is some limited country-specific evidence showing that overuse of surgical procedures is increasing, at least for certain procedures.

Objectives: To assess factors associated with, extent and consequences of, and potential solutions for low-value surgical procedures in LMICs.

Interactions between Australian cancer physicians and the pharmaceutical industry: a qualitative study.

Objectives: To understand how and why Australian cancer physicians interact with the pharmaceutical industry.

Design: Qualitative study using semistructured interviews, performed by a medical oncologist. Thematic analysis using a combination of deductive and inductive codes.

Overuse of medications in low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review.

Objective: To identify and summarize the evidence about the extent of overuse of medications in low- and middle-income countries, its drivers, consequences and potential solutions.

Methods: We conducted a scoping review by searching the databases PubMed®, Embase®, APA PsycINFO® and Global Index Medicus using a combination of MeSH terms and free text words around overuse of medications and overtreatment. We included studies in any language published before 25 October 2021 that reported on the extent of overuse, its drivers, consequences and solutions.

Overdiagnosis and overuse of diagnostic and screening tests in low-income and middle-income countries: a scoping review.

Objective: Overdiagnosis and overuse of healthcare services harm individuals, take resources that could be used to address underuse, and threaten the sustainability of health systems. These problems are attracting increasing attention in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). Unaware of any review of relevant evidence, we conducted a scoping review of the evidence around overdiagnosis and overuse of diagnostic and screening tests in LMICs.

Interventions to improve media coverage of medical research: a codesigned feasibility and acceptability study with Australian journalists.

Objectives: Although the media can influence public perceptions and utilisation of healthcare, journalists generally receive no routine training in interpreting and reporting on medical research. Given growing evidence about the problems of medical overuse, the need for quality media reporting has become a greater priority. This study aimed to codesign and assess the feasibility of a multicomponent training intervention for journalists in Australia.

A novel methodological framework was described for detecting and quantifying overdiagnosis.

Objectives: Methods to quantify overdiagnosis of screen detected cancer have been developed, but methods for quantifying overdiagnosis of noncancer conditions (whether symptomatic or asymptomatic) have been lacking. We aimed to develop a methodological framework for quantifying overdiagnosis that may be used for asymptomatic or symptomatic conditions and used gestational diabetes mellitus as an example of how it may be applied.

Study Design And Setting: We identify two earlier definitions for overdiagnosis, a narrower prognosis-based definition and a wider utility-based definition.

Australian Cancer Physicians and the Pharmaceutical Industry: A Survey of Attitudes and Interactions.

Purpose: Interactions between cancer physicians and the pharmaceutical industry may create conflicts of interest that can adversely affect patient care. We aimed to survey cancer physicians regarding their attitudes toward and interactions with industry.

Methods: We surveyed Australian cancer physicians between December 2020 and February 2021, questioning how often they interacted with industry and their attitudes toward this.

Interactions with the pharmaceutical industry and the practice, knowledge and beliefs of medical oncologists and clinical haematologists: a systematic review.

Background: No previous review has assessed the extent and effect of industry interactions on medical oncologists and haematologists specifically.

Methods: A systematic review investigated interactions with the pharmaceutical industry and how these might affect the clinical practice, knowledge and beliefs of cancer physicians. MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO and Web of Science Core Collection databases were searched from inception to February 2021.

Journalists' views on media coverage of medical tests and overdiagnosis: a qualitative study.

Objective: Promotional media coverage of early detection tests is an important driver of overdiagnosis. Following research evidence that global media coverage presents the benefits of testing healthy people far more frequently than harms, and gives little coverage to overdiagnosis, we sought to examine journalists' views on media reporting of tests, overdiagnosis, and strategies to improve critical reporting on tests.

Design: Qualitative study using semistructured telephone interviews.

Global Media Coverage of the Benefits and Harms of Early Detection Tests.

This cross-sectional study examines global media coverage of the benefits and harms of early detection tests for asymptomatic individuals.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on utilisation of healthcare services: a systematic review.

Objectives: To determine the extent and nature of changes in utilisation of healthcare services during COVID-19 pandemic.

Design: Systematic review.

Eligibility: Eligible studies compared utilisation of services during COVID-19 pandemic to at least one comparable period in prior years.

Ultrasound-guided cannulation for medical students.

Background: There is growing recommendation to integrate ultrasound training into undergraduate medical curricula; with limited evidence of its implementation in the United Kingdom. Peripheral intravenous cannulation (PIVC) often has high failure rates-particularly for patients with difficult vascular access. Ultrasound-guided PIVC (US-PIVC) has been shown to increase the rates of success and may reduce dependence on seniors.

Head of bed elevation to relieve gastroesophageal reflux symptoms: a systematic review.

Background: Overuse of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) - frequently used for relieving symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GORD) - raises long-term safety concerns, warranting evidence-based non-drug interventions. We conducted a systematic review to evaluate the effect of head-of-bed elevation on relieving symptoms of GORD in adults.

Methods: We included controlled trials comparing the effect of head-of-bed elevation interventions to control in adults with GORD.

Industry payments to Australian medical oncologists and clinical haematologists: a cross-sectional analysis of publicly available disclosures.

Background: Payments to medical oncologists and clinical haematologists can negatively affect prescribing practice, but the extent of payments to these specialists is unknown in Australia.

Aims: To analyse the extent of payments from the pharmaceutical industry to Australian cancer physicians as reported during the first collated period of the Disclosure Australia website.

Methods: We performed a retrospective, cross-sectional analysis of payments made from November 2018 to April 2019, using a file downloaded from the Disclosure Australia website.

Media coverage of calls to rename low-risk cancers: a content analysis.

Objectives: The use of more medicalised labels can increase both concern about illness and the desire for more invasive treatment. This study analyses the media's coverage of an Analysis article in which generated a large amount of high-profile international media coverage. It aims to understand how to better communicate messages about low-risk cancers and overdiagnosis to the public.

Financial ties between leaders of influential US professional medical associations and industry: cross sectional study.

Objective: To investigate the nature and extent of financial relationships between leaders of influential professional medical associations in the United States and pharmaceutical and device companies.

Design: Cross sectional study.

Setting: Professional associations for the 10 costliest disease areas in the US according to the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Mixed methods evaluation of workshops for citizen health advocates about financial conflicts of interests in healthcare.

Objectives: To evaluate workshops delivered to citizen health advocates about financial conflicts of interest in healthcare, transparency databases which disclose industry payments in the USA and Australia and the pros and cons of advocacy groups accepting industry sponsorship.

Design: Thematic analysis of workshop participant recorded discussions, and pre, post and 3-month follow-up questionnaires on confidence and knowledge about financial conflicts of interest, transparency databases and the merits of advocacy organisations accepting industry sponsorship.

Participants And Setting: 48 citizen health advocates participated in a half-day workshop, held in four Australian cities, which ended with a 1-hour recorded discussion.

Commentary: The Voice of the People, Funded Now by Your Friendly Pharmaceutical Company.

Pharmaceutical industry funding has transformed much grassroots community activism on health into corporate-sponsored advocacy. This critical commentary outlines recent evidence about industry funding of patient advocacy groups, offers a commentary on the history of grassroots activism appearing in this issue of the journal, and calls for greater scrutiny of the impacts and ethics of such sponsorship.

Media coverage of drug regulatory agencies' safety advisories: A case study of citalopram and denosumab.

Aims: Drug regulators issue safety advisories to warn clinicians and the public about new evidence of harmful effects of medicines. It is unclear how often these messages are covered by the media. Our aim was to analyse the extent of media coverage of two medicines that were subject to safety advisories from 2007 to 2016 in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.