Moynihan R, Bero L, Ross-Degnan D, Henry D, Lee K, Watkins J, Mah C, Soumerai S B
Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
N Engl J Med. 2000 Jun 1;342(22):1645-50. doi: 10.1056/NEJM200006013422206.
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.
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.
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.
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.
新闻媒体是有关新医疗疗法信息的重要来源，但有人担心某些报道可能不准确且过于乐观。
我们研究了美国新闻媒体对三种用于预防重大疾病药物的益处和风险的报道。这些药物分别是普伐他汀，一种用于预防心血管疾病的降胆固醇药物；阿仑膦酸钠，一种用于治疗和预防骨质疏松症的双膦酸盐药物；以及阿司匹林，用于预防心血管疾病。我们分析了1994年至1998年间出现的180篇报纸文章（每种药物60篇）和27篇电视报道的系统概率样本。
在207篇报道中，83篇（40%）未定量报道益处。在124篇进行了定量报道的文章中，103篇（83%）仅报道了相对益处，3篇（2%）仅报道了绝对益处，18篇（15%）同时报道了绝对益处和相对益处。在207篇报道中，98篇（47%）提到了对患者的潜在危害，只有63篇（30%）提到了成本。在170篇引用专家或科学研究的报道中，85篇（50%）引用了至少一位在科学文献中已披露与药物制造商存在经济利益关系的专家或研究。在这85篇报道中，只有33篇（39%）披露了这些利益关系。
新闻媒体关于药物的报道可能包括关于药物益处、风险和成本以及研究小组或专家与制药商之间经济利益关系的信息不足或不完整。
