Drug Information Obscured on Over-the-Counter Medication Labels by External Tags

The objective of the study was to determine the quantity and quality of information obscured by anti-theft and price tags on over-the-counter (OTC) medication labels. A cross-sectional field study was conducted by examining OTC medication packages in two cities: Houston, Texas and East Lansing, Michigan. A total of 849 packages of 124 products containing acetaminophen or combinations which included acetaminophen were evaluated for the presence of external tags and the information obscured by them. The results illustrated that more price tags (60.7%) were present than antitheft tags (21.0%). Information concealed by tags was predominantly from the Drug Facts box (50.4%), namely, warnings (23.6%), active ingredients (9.3%), and product use (4.4%). The results revealed that inappropriate tagging practices obscure Food and Drug Administration-mandated information on OTC medication labels. These tags may make it difficult for consumers to make informed decisions regarding product selection and use, thus, strategies for improvement are suggested.

[1]  R. Juhl.  Prescription to over-the-counter switch: a regulatory perspective. , 1998, Clinical therapeutics.

[2]  D. Classen,et al.  Adverse drug events in hospitalized patients. Excess length of stay, extra costs, and attributable mortality. , 1997, JAMA.

[3]  Sujit S. Sansgiry,et al.  Consumer Comprehension of Information on Over-the-Counter Medication Labels: Effects of Picture Superiority and Individual Differences Based on Age , 1997 .

[4]  MICHEAL S. WOGALTER* WILLIAM J. VIGILANTE,et al.  Effects of label format on knowledge acquisition and perceived readability by younger and older adults , 2003, Ergonomics.

[5]  W. Garnett.  GI effects of OTC analgesics: implications for product selection. , 1996, Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association.

[6]  C. I. Neutel,et al.  The effect of alcohol abuse on the risk of NSAID-related gastrointestinal events. , 2000, Annals of epidemiology.

[7]  A. Po,et al.  Readability of patient information leaflets on over‐the‐counter (OTC) medicines , 1994, Journal of clinical pharmacy and therapeutics.

[8]  P. Byrns.  Prescription to over-the-counter switches: the physician perspective. , 1998, Clinical therapeutics.

[9]  P T Davis.  Adverse drug events in hospitalized patients. , 1997, JAMA.

[10]  S. Sansgiry,et al.  Readability of over-the-counter medication labels. , 1997, Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association.

[11]  S. Sansgiry,et al.  Consumer Involvement , 2001, Health marketing quarterly.

[12]  A. Egberts,et al.  Adverse drug events in hospitalized patients A comparison of doctors, nurses and patients as sources of reports , 1999, European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.

[13]  S L Young,et al.  The effect of alternative product-label design on warning compliance. , 1994, Applied ergonomics.