My article Tolvaptan – New drug for low sodium in blood” has been recently quoted in an article titled “Content of weblogs written by health professionals” (pdf link) published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine by implying that the post is a product endorsement. The actual quote is:
“Up until now the treatment of this condition involved free water restriction and removal of inciting factors. Now a new drug – Tolvaptan promises to change it all.”
However, the article missed out the remaining post which in the end had my take on Tolvaptan -
“The main problem with the drug is that once approved, most clinicians will prescribe it for for a very long time especially in patients prone to developing and remaining hyponatremic. Since the study duration was only for 30 days, many new side effects may appear when the drug is finally marketed.”
Also my blog post was written in context of describing an article published in New England Journal of medicine and not for drug promotion which the article failed to mention. I should also add that I have no relationship with any pharmaceutical company as the article later implies (although not directly to this website) by writing:
“A recent survey reveals that 29% of blog authors have been approached by public relations professionals to endorse specific products, and 52% of them have written one post endorsing such products in their blog content. These endorsements are not advertisements that appear on the website; they are written into the blog narrative, often without any acknowledgement that they are paid promotions. Although we did find blogs that promoted health care products within their entries, we were unable to determine whether these were paid endorsements, because we found no disclosures indicating authors’ conflicts of interest.”
To all this I should also add that I pursue blogging because I have a passion for computers and technology and believe that we can help ourselves (physicians) as well as our patients by empowering them with the latest information in medicine that they can discuss with their physicians.
I read the story and the study that led to the story. It is ironic that a post about research published in one of the top peer reviewed medical journals is considered product endorsement. They make a lot of assumptions in their “study.” This seems to be typical of people trying to tell others how to behave, although they do not understand what they are talking about. In their discussion, there was some more balance than the headlines suggested, but the research itself was pathetic.
Don’t ket them discourage you.
[Reply]
The are many good health care blogs out there whose owners actually know a thing or two about heathlcare like this blog. Its important to be able to get all the good information out to the people who rely on it because they cant afford to go to a doctor.
[Reply]
Thanks Stacey for the comment. However, the information on this blog is not designed to replace doctors. My endeavor is to inform people so that they can see their physician earlier for their medical problems. People should not rely completely on the information posted on this blog as medical information is changing constantly and also every clinical scenario is different and will not apply to everyone.
[Reply]
The blogosphere is an excellent source of information and brilliant place to open up a dialogue on issues such as health care, but even blogs written by healthcare professionals cant replace a face to face appointment with the Doctor.
Good work though, and keep it up!
[Reply]
Nice article, I pursue blogging because I have a passion to help people get off of Alcohol and to help people who have Alcoholism. Keep up the good work!
[Reply]