Quality of pharmaceutical advertising and gender bias in medical journals (1998-2008): a review of the scientific literature.

Objective: To review the scientific literature on pharmaceutical advertising aimed at health professionals in order to determine whether gender bias has decreased and the quality of information in pharmaceutical advertising has improved over time.

Methods: We performed a content analysis of original articles dealing with medical drug promotion (1998-2008), according to quality criteria such as (a) the number, validity and accessibility of bibliographic references provided in pharmaceutical advertising and (b) the extent to which gender representations were consistent with the prevalence of the diseases. Databases: PUBMED, Medline, Scopus, Sociological Abstract, Eric and LILACS.

[Gender systems and/in the Spanish National Health Interview Survey].

Objective: To analyze the Spanish National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) from a gender perspective, with special emphasis on gender division of labor.

Method: We analyzed the 2003 Spanish NHIS from the perspective of the levels of gender observation, with gender understood as: a) the basis of social norms (responsibilities by sex, health risks, and problems related to masculine/feminine roles); b) the organizer of the social structure: gender division of labor, work overload, vertical/horizontal segregation, time spent in activities according to social times, access to resources), and c) a component of individual identity (conflicts due to multiple roles, body image dissatisfaction, self-esteem, self-perceived recognition of the work performed, assimilation of the sexual gender role, sex differences in health conditions).

Results: The Spanish NHIS is centered on the main provider, referred to in masculine grammatical form.

[Gender bias in the language of the health questionnaire of the Spanish National Health Survey 2003].

To identify possible gender bias in the language of the adults' and children's questionnaires of the Spanish National Health Survey, 2003, its style and language was analyzed for inaccurate generalizations, inequalities due to the use of terms that reflect social stereotypes and hide unequal social roles, and grammatical gender disagreement. Both questionnaires show language bias, mainly lexical, as they use masculine singular nouns to refer to all individuals (for example, carer, employer, worker, doctor, interviewer, interviewee). Gender stereotypes are reinforced by the use of the term "carer", referring to women, and by examples of jobs traditionally done by men.