A Point-of-Sale Communications Campaign to Provide Consumers Safety Information on Drug–Dietary Supplement Interactions: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Concurrent use of dietary supplements with over-the-counter and prescription pharmaceuticals has become increasingly common, and with this trend, so has the incidence of adverse drug–supplement interactions. In the current market, consumers have no way to distinguish between safe and potentially harmful supplements. Thus, the primary objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that messages designed to increase consumers' awareness of potential health risks of concurrent use of dietary supplements with over-the-counter and prescription pharmaceuticals would promote further consideration and action, as evidenced by (a) seeking additional information from an authoritative source or qualified health care professional and (b) changing dietary supplement usage patterns. To test this hypothesis, an innovative consumer information delivery system, referred to as the Buyer Information Network (BuyIN), was utilized. BuyIN uses currently available, Web-enabled point-of-sale (POS) technology to provide up-to-date, evidence-based, health- and safety-related messages to consumers at the retail checkout counter. Results showed that more than one-fourth (27.1%) of consumers (n = 199) who purchased targeted items reported they were aware of the messages. Of this subgroup of aware consumers, 11.2% reported that they sought additional information from a physician or pharmacist, 11.5% reported that they visited the website listed on the coupon, and 10.5% indicated that they changed their dietary supplement usage patterns as a result of the messages. Future research should include a large-scale study of a fully implemented and capable system at multiple test sites around the country, including investigating the utility of BuyIN in different retail settings.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by grant 1 R43 AT001747-01 from the National Institutes of Health. The authors thank the following at UMDNJ: Malvin Janal—statistician, assistance with data analysis; Dr. Riva Touger-Decker—assistance with survey design; Dr. Carol Byrd-Bredbenner—assistance with various aspects of study design and evaluation; and Dr. Michael Gallo—assistance with various aspects of study design and preparation of the application. Thank you also to Gregory M. Freeze, MBA, Chief Operating Officer of CAM Commerce Solutions, Inc., Fountain Valley, CA, and from ShopRite, Cheryl Macik (liaison to research team, special thanks), John Dawryluk (special thanks), Cheryl Williams (vice-president of marketing), Mary Ellen Gowin (vice-president of consumer and corporate communications), Bob Mernar (chief pharmacist). Also special thanks to Catherine Ulbricht, PharmD (chief editor), and Christopher Wisdo, PhD (IT), Natural Standard. AIP and DGL are principals in Innovative Health Information (IHI), Inc. IHI received an NIH SBIR grant to support this research.