Pharmaceutical companies are accused of "disease-mongering" -- promoting nonexistent diseases and exaggerating mild conditions in order to boost profits. The claim was published in the leading medical journal, Public Library Of Science Medicine.

Ordinary Life Being 'Medicalized'

Researchers said conditions such as restless legs syndrome and female sexual dysfunction were being presented as more prevalent than they actually were.

The report criticized attempts to convince the US public that 43 percent of women live with sexual dysfunction, the female equivalent of erectile dysfunction.

The report authors -- David Henry of Newcastle University, Australia, and Ray Moynihan, an Australian journalist -- also said that aspects of ordinary life such as menopause were being "medicalized," and risk factors like cholesterol and osteoporosis were presented as diseases.

'Awareness Campaigns' Designed to Sell Drugs

"Disease-mongering widens the boundaries of illness and grows the markets for those who sell and deliver treatments," the authors wrote. "It is exemplified by many industry-funded awareness campaigns, more often designed to sell drugs than to inform or educate about preventing illness or the maintenance of health."

They called on doctors, patients and support groups to be aware of the marketing tactics of the industry.

Dr. Graham Archard, vice-chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said: "If a company produces a product, they are going to want to market it in the best way they can, and if they can increase public awareness of a condition that may or may not exist, then a person may well believe they have that condition and look for treatment.

"Potentially, we could all be losers."