Researchers examine online safety for ED medications

In the August issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, researchers from Utah and several colleagues compare the relative safety of two systems – an online prescribing service versus traditional physician consultation – for patients seeking medication to treat erectile dysfunction.

Online prescribing, also called e-medicine prescribing, is relatively new in the US.

Patient demand for these services appears to be growing, but the researchers acknowledge that the health care industry "has appropriately raised serious concerns about the safety of prescribing over the Internet."

In 2002, the state of Utah signed a contract with an Internet prescribing service to prescribe erectile dysfunction drugs called PDE-5 inhibitors. Erectile dysfunction (ED) is the inability of a man to maintain a firm erection long enough to have sex.

The researchers randomly selected 1,000 patient medical records from patients seeking ED treatment from Jan. 1, 2001 to Dec. 31, 2005. Half (500) of these patients used the online prescriber (the e-medicine group), and 500 consulted a physician (the traditional medicine group) for treatment.

Evaluating both systems for these safety criteria, the researchers concluded that the e-medicine system "outperformed the traditional system in most of the safety variables tested."

One area the e-medicine system appeared to excel was patient education.

The authors noted that 100% of the e-medicine clients received written manufacturer product information, and 75.2% of e-medicine clients received tailored electronic messages.

In comparison, study data showed that no medication instructions were recorded for 51.8% of patients who received prescriptions via a traditional physician consultation.