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Previous Volume 342:1645-1650 June 1, 2000 Number 22 Next

	Full Text PDF Editorial by Steinbrook, R. Add to Personal Archive Add to Citation Manager Notify a Friend E-mail When Cited PubMed Citation

ABSTRACT

Background The news media are an important source of information about new medical treatments, but there is concern that some coverage may be inaccurate and overly enthusiastic.

Methods We studied coverage by U.S. news media of the benefits and risks of three medications that are used to prevent major diseases. The medications were pravastatin, a cholesterol-lowering drug for the prevention of cardiovascular disease; alendronate, a bisphosphonate for the treatment and prevention of osteoporosis; and aspirin, which is used for the prevention of cardiovascular disease. We analyzed a systematic probability sample of 180 newspaper articles (60 for each drug) and 27 television reports that appeared between 1994 and 1998.

Results Of the 207 stories, 83 (40 percent) did not report benefits quantitatively. Of the 124 that did, 103 (83 percent) reported relative benefits only, 3 (2 percent) absolute benefits only, and 18 (15 percent) both absolute and relative benefits. Of the 207 stories, 98 (47 percent) mentioned potential harm to patients, and only 63 (30 percent) mentioned costs. Of the 170 stories citing an expert or a scientific study, 85 (50 percent) cited at least one expert or study with a financial tie to a manufacturer of the drug that had been disclosed in the scientific literature. These ties were disclosed in only 33 (39 percent) of the 85 stories.

Conclusions News-media stories about medications may include inadequate or incomplete information about the benefits, risks, and costs of the drugs as well as the financial ties between study groups or experts and pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Source Information

From the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Boston (R.M., D.R.-D., C.M., S.B.S.); the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Sydney, N.S.W., Australia (R.M.); the Department of Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy (L.B., K.L.), and Institute for Health Policy Studies, School of Medicine (L.B.), University of California, San Francisco; and the School of Population Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, N.S.W., Australia (D.H.).

Address reprint requests to Dr. Soumerai at the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention, Harvard Medical School, 126 Brookline Ave., Suite 200, Boston, MA 02215, or at ssoumerai{at}hms.harvard.edu.

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