There's an epidemic of misinformation: Why are pharmacists so bad at dealing with it?

Health misinformation is no longer a fringe problem. It is a measurable driver of non-adherence, contributing to increased rates of morbidity and mortality. As educators, we have a dual responsibility. We need to provide accurate information and actively address the misinformation patients have already encountered.A case study: statinsStatins remain one of the most rigorously studied drug classes in medicine. Decades of evidence demonstrate reduced major cardiovascular events and mortality in both primary and secondary prevention.An analysis of over 1.15 million tweets about statins from 2010 to 2022 found that negative sentiment toward statins rose steadily, increasing from 26.0% to 40.0%.2 This matters clinically because negative sentiment and skepticism are directly linked to reluctance to start or stay on statin therapy. By the conclusion of the study period, humans had overtaken bots as the primary source of statin-related content, producing 79.8% of posts compared to just 11.3% from bots.2 This demonstrates that statin misinformation is increasingly a human problem, not a bot problem, and addressing it should involve a human fix rather than relying on an algorithm update or a platform policy change.The data indicates this is having a downstream impact on how well cardiovascular risk is being managed in practice. It is estimated that up to 20% of high-risk patients refuse statin therapy.3 A nationwide cohort study found that negative statin-related media coverage was directly associated with decreased statin persistence and an increase in both myocardial infarctions and cardiovascular mortality. Misinformation also fuels a nocebo effect, where patients report adverse symptoms after starting a statin simply because they expected to feel worse, independent of any pharmacological mechanism.4 Scrolling through social media feeds is not innocuous; it is causing measurable harm at the population level.Not just a patient literacy problemThe narrative that we, as pharmacists, tell ourselves is that misinformation wins because patients don't understand the science. The uncomfortable truth is that our own evidence-based materials are often functionally inaccessible, while misinformation is optimized for human attention and trust.Let’s consider readability. An analysis of statin-related patient education materials found the average reading level across government, industry, and lay-press sources was 10th grade, well above the recommended 6th-grade standard for public health content.2 A separate review of Canadian and U.S. national health organization materials found similarly inflated readability at an 11th-grade level, often paired with inadequate cholesterol management guidance.5 Meanwhile, social media algorithms reward sensationalized, emotionally charged content with faster and wider reach than accurate, nuanced information. We are losing on readability and relatability, yet we keep blaming patients for choosing simpler, wrong information over our denser, correct version.Research shows people trust friends family, and online communities far more than institutional or clinical sources. Correcting misinformation with more data, delivered in the same clinical register, misunderstands why it spread in the first place.What this means at the counterThis reframes pharmacists' role: we're not just dispensing accurate information; we're competing against emotionally compelling, socially validated, low-literacy-friendly misinformation. What can we do to change the game practically?Simplify: aim for 6th-grade language when explaining LDL-C and statin benefit-risk, since overly technical explanations tend to lose to simpler, wrong ones by default.4Lead with shared decision-making, not lecturing. Understanding where a belief came from can tell you more about the relationship you're working against than the content of the claim itself. Addressing this trust dynamic is more effective than a one-way factual correction.2Watch for disparities: statin discontinuation and lipid control are worse among women and among Black and Hispanic patients, meaning misinformation doesn't land evenly.2Normalize the nocebo effect by acknowledging that negative expectations can cause real symptoms, rather than dismissing patient-reported side effects.What is really happening?So why aren’t we doing better? Is there something in our culture that makes us resistant to meeting patients where they are? Reflect on this for a moment. Is it because we are afraid of sounding less authoritative? Because our training taught us that being thorough and precise was more important than being understood? Are we unconsciously more invested in feeling smart than in being effective? Rather than blaming system failures (which we are good at), we must evaluate psychological patterns that are limiting our impact.The next time a patient cites a viral claim about statins "destroying the liver," resist the urge to recite JUPITER trial results. That's not the format that's effective right now. Meet them where the misinformation lives through relationships and simple language. This will help you avoid the next preventable heart attack more than any pamphlet ever could.Manjit Hansra is a breathwork facilitator, mental fitness trainer, CDE and consultant pharmacist focused on providing tools to help pharmacists prevent and manage burnout. Subscribe to his newsletter HERE.References: Johnson, H. M. (2025). The impact of health misinformation and health literacy on the management of dyslipidemia. American Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 24, Article 101289. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajpc.2025.101289Slavin, S. D., Berman, A. N., Beam, A. L., Navar, A. M., & Mittleman, M. A. (2024). Statin Twitter: Human and automated bot contributions, 2010 to 2022. Journal of the American Heart Association, 13(7), Article e032678. https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.123.032678Bradley CK, Wang TY, et al. Patient-Reported Reasons for Declining or Discontinuing Statin Therapy. J Am Heart Assoc. 2019 Apr 2;8(7):e011765.Nelson AJ, Puri R, Nissen SE. Statins in a distorted mirror of media. Curr Atheroscler Rep 2020;22:37. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11883-020-00853-9.Magnani JW, Mujahid MS, Aronow HD, Cen´e CW, Dickson VV, Havranek E, Morgenstern LB, Paasche-Orlow MK, Pollak A, Willey JZ. Health literacy and cardiovascular disease: fundamental relevance to primary and secondary prevention: a scientific statement from the American heart association. Circulation 2018;138:e48–74. https://doi.org/10.1161/cir.0000000000000579.

There's an epidemic of misinformation: Why are pharmacists so bad at dealing with it?

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