Lai William Yuk Yeu, Lane Trevor
Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, PR China.
PLoS One. 2009 Jul 1;4(7):e6103. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0006103.
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.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We 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/SIGNIFICANCE: Only 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.
将医学研究新闻置于报纸头版旨在吸引公众关注，因此从研究成熟度和证据水平方面了解新闻来源很重要。
方法/主要发现：我们在LexisNexis上搜索，以确定2000年1月1日至2002年12月31日期间各大报纸头版报道的医学研究。我们使用MEDLINE和谷歌学术搜索来查找与该研究对应的期刊文章，并确定其证据水平。在确定的734篇头版医学研究报道中，417篇（57%）提及发表在同行评审期刊上的成熟研究。其余317篇报道提及在科学或新闻发布会上公布的初步研究结果；其中144篇（45%）报道提到的研究后来成熟（即在新闻报道后的3年内发表在期刊上）。报道成熟研究的新闻故事中引用的515篇期刊文章的证据水平分布（I级3%，II级21%，III级42%，IV级4%，V级31%）与后来成熟的170篇初步研究报告的证据水平分布（分别为1%、19%、35%、12%和33%；卡方检验，P = 0.0009）不同。没有新闻报道表明证据水平。报道初步研究结果的新闻故事中，不到五分之一承认其内容具有初步性质。
结论/意义：头版报道的医学研究中只有57%基于成熟研究，成熟研究的证据水平往往高于初步研究结果。医学研究新闻应明确注明出处，并说明证据水平和局限性，以便公众了解来源的成熟度和质量。
