- Anthony Omojasola: Department of Health Disparities Research, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030-4009, USA. aomoja@aol.com
OBJECTIVE: Our study aimed to assess patient's perceptions of generic drugs and utilization of generic drug discount programs.
DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: A survey was administered to adult participants at community health centers and community-based organizations in Houston, Texas, USA (n=525).
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Multivariate logistic regression was used to quantify the strength of association between generic drug perception and utilization of generic drug discount programs.
RESULTS: Respondents who agreed that "Generic prescription drugs are as effective as brand name prescription drugs," were 3 times as likely to utilize generic drug discount programs (AOR: 3.0, 95% CI: 1.8-4.8, P<.001). Compared to non-Hispanic Whites, African Americans (OR: 10.2; 95% CI: 1.4-76.4) and Hispanics (OR: 10.3; 95% CI: 1.3-79.4) were 10 times as likely to agree that generic drugs have more side effects than brand name drugs.
CONCLUSION: Race/ethnicity had no impact in utilization of generic drug discount programs, despite racial disparities in perception toward generic drugs' side effects and generic drugs being inferior to brand name drugs.