Abstract
BackgroundThe placement of medical research news on a newspaper's front page is intended to gain the public's attention, so it is important to understand the source of the news in terms of research maturity and evidence level.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe searched LexisNexis to identify medical research reported on front pages of major newspapers published from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2002. We used MEDLINE and Google Scholar to find journal articles corresponding to the research, and determined their evidence level.Of 734 front-page medical research stories identified, 417 (57%) referred to mature research published in peer-reviewed journals. The remaining 317 stories referred to preliminary findings presented at scientific or press meetings; 144 (45%) of those stories mentioned studies that later matured (i.e. were published in journals within 3 years after news coverage). The evidence-level distribution of the 515 journal articles quoted in news stories reporting on mature research (3% level I, 21% level II, 42% level III, 4% level IV, and 31% level V) differed from that of the 170 reports of preliminary research that later matured (1%, 19%, 35%, 12%, and 33%, respectively; chi-square test, P = .0009). No news stories indicated evidence level. Fewer than 1 in 5 news stories reporting preliminary findings acknowledged the preliminary nature of their content.Conclusions/SignificanceOnly 57% of front-page stories reporting on medical research are based on mature research, which tends to have a higher evidence level than research with preliminary findings. Medical research news should be clearly referenced and state the evidence level and limitations to inform the public of the maturity and quality of the source.
Highlights
Popular media such as newspapers are commonly the initial source of medical research news for both medical professionals and the public [1,2,3,4]
To target front-page news about medical research studies, we refined our search by using the additional keyword ‘‘study’’ or ‘‘studies.’’ the retrieved news items were manually searched to identify the source of medical research news and to exclude stories that were not truly based on studies with research findings and duplicate news stories originating from different daily editions of the same newspaper
The 417 front-page stories reporting on mature research were each based on findings from 1 to 4 published studies, with a total of 567 mentions of research studies published in 435 distinct journal articles
Summary
Popular media such as newspapers are commonly the initial source of medical research news for both medical professionals and the public [1,2,3,4]. To medical researchers and health care professionals, the most credible source of medical information is generally accepted to be ‘‘mature’’ research, that is, studies published in peer-reviewed journals [6]. Journal publication creates a retrievable archive of medical information that can be evaluated for quality and usefulness, as reflected by the strength of the presented evidence (e.g. study design, sample size, and clinical relevance). Appraisal of this aspect of medical studies—the basis of evidence-based medicine (EBM)— helps health care practitioners to identify, filter, and apply the current best evidence to solve specific clinical problems [12,13]. The placement of medical research news on a newspaper’s front page is intended to gain the public’s attention, so it is important to understand the source of the news in terms of research maturity and evidence level
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