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Fergus Fergusson, MD
Chicago

JAMA. 1970;214(4):763.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

The critical review of propoxyphene hydrochloride literature (213:996, 1970) states in its synopsis-abstract that a literature review was undertaken to determine if the wide popularity of the drug is justified. Fortunately, most of the study was not of popularity, whatever that may be, but a review of the effects of this drug compared with those of aspirin and codeine especially.

The authors find it "... reasonable to conclude, on the basis of our review, that propoxyphene is no more effective than aspirin or codeine and may even be inferior to these analgesics..." Evidence for an inferiority is circuitous, external, statistically undocumented, and contingent upon that thin red line of patient definition of the empire of pain, which is never objective.

The statement, several times repeated, that propoxyphene is the most-prescribed drug is flattened by the probability that it is far from the most used drug—aspirin and its . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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