Dirt cheap and without prescription: how susceptible are young US consumers to purchasing drugs from rogue internet pharmacies?
Dirt cheap and without prescription: how susceptible are young US consumers to purchasing drugs from rogue internet pharmacies?
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DOI：
10.2196/jmir.1520
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发表时间：
2010-04-26
影响因子：
7.4
通讯作者：
Fulton L
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Ivanitskaya L;Brookins-Fisher J;O Boyle I;Vibbert D;Erofeev D;Fulton L
通过垃圾邮件中的链接或网络搜索引擎，可以访问许多流氓药品销售商的网站。这项研究调查了在美国高等教育机构注册的学生如何识别明显不安全的药店。目的是估计这些健康消费者易受非法互联网药店欺诈的脆弱性。专门为这项研究创建的两个互联网药店网站，以五个实际的互联网药品销售商为模型，显示了多个不可信的特征，作者认为这些特征对消费者有潜在的危险。这些网站没有任何安全的药房标志，几乎所有的危险标志都在食品和药物管理局（FDA）的消费者指南中规定。参与者被告知，一家社区药房一个月的Beozine供应价格为165美元，这是一种假药，以确保他们事先不知情。在查看了两家网络药店（A药房37.99美元，b药房57.60美元）的价格后，受访者被要求指出每个卖家是否是购买该药的好地方。答复来自于在2005-2008年间完成在线电子健康素养评估的1914名本科生。参与率为78%。在回答“从0到10分，这家药店作为购买Beozine的地方有多好？”时，许多受访者给出了好评。具体来说，50%评价药房A的学生和37%评价药房B的学生选择了高于量表中点的评分。在解释低药品成本时，这些评分者将其与低运营成本、广告收入、由于比较购物而降低成本的压力和/或高销售量联系起来。那些认为A药房或B药房是购买药品“非常糟糕的地方”的人（25%），以1分或更低的分数来定义，将药品成本低与缺乏监管、药品质量低和/或客户信息销售相关。大约16%的学生认为应该建议人们在这些药店购买更便宜的药物，但大多数人（62%）建议应该警告人们不要从这些网上卖家那里购买药物。超过22%的受访者会向朋友和家人推荐药房A（10%的药房B）。三分之一的参与者为决策目的向他人提供在线健康信息。在控制了教育程度、卫生专业和年龄的影响后，这些被调查者对网络药店的判断明显低于不作为信息提供者的被调查者。至少有四分之一的学生，包括那些健康专业的学生，看不出流氓网络药店所显示的多种危险迹象。更多的人可能会被那些使用专业设计、掩盖不可信功能、模仿知名网站的在线卖家所误导。在线健康信息消费者将受益于教育举措(1)宣传为什么在线购买药物可能是危险的，(2)发展他们的信息评估技能。这项研究强调了监管流氓网络药店和遏制它们对消费者构成危险的重要性。
Websites of many rogue sellers of medications are accessible through links in email spam messages or via web search engines. This study examined how well students enrolled in a U.S. higher education institution could identify clearly unsafe pharmacies. The aim is to estimate these health consumers´ vulnerability to fraud by illegitimate Internet pharmacies. Two Internet pharmacy websites, created specifically for this study, displayed multiple untrustworthy features modeled after five actual Internet drug sellers which the authors considered to be potentially dangerous to consumers. The websites had none of the safe pharmacy signs and nearly all of the danger signs specified in the Food and Drug Administration´s (FDA´s) guide to consumers. Participants were told that a neighborhood pharmacy charged US$165 for a one-month supply of Beozine, a bogus drug to ensure no pre-existing knowledge. After checking its price at two Internet pharmacies—$37.99 in pharmacy A and $57.60 in pharmacy B—the respondents were asked to indicate if each seller was a good place to buy the drug. Responses came from 1,914 undergraduate students who completed an online eHealth literacy assessment in 2005-2008. Participation rate was 78%. In response to "On a scale from 0-10, how good is this pharmacy as a place for buying Beozine?" many respondents gave favorable ratings. Specifically, 50% of students who reviewed pharmacy A and 37% of students who reviewed pharmacy B chose a rating above the scale midpoint. When explaining a low drug cost, these raters related it to low operation costs, ad revenue, pressure to lower costs due to comparison shopping, and/or high sales volume. Those who said that pharmacy A or B was "a very bad place" for purchasing the drug (25%), as defined by a score of 1 or less, related low drug cost to lack of regulation, low drug quality, and/or customer information sales. About 16% of students thought that people should be advised to buy cheaper drugs at pharmacies such as these but the majority (62%) suggested that people should be warned against buying drugs from such internet sellers. Over 22% of respondents would recommend pharmacy A to friends and family (10% pharmacy B). One-third of participants supplied online health information to others for decision-making purposes. After controlling for the effects of education, health major, and age, these respondents had significantly worse judgment of Internet pharmacies than those who did not act as information suppliers. At least a quarter of students, including those in health programs, cannot see multiple signs of danger displayed by rogue Internet pharmacies. Many more are likely to be misled by online sellers that use professional design, veil untrustworthy features, and mimic reputable websites. Online health information consumers would benefit from education initiatives that (1) communicate why it can be dangerous to buy medications online and that (2) develop their information evaluation skills. This study highlights the importance of regulating rogue Internet pharmacies and curbing the danger they pose to consumers.
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