University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA.
Prev Chronic Dis. 2010 Mar;7(2):A32. Epub 2010 Feb 15.
Growing evidence suggests that physical activity, healthy diets, and social engagement may promote cognitive health. Popular media helps establish the public health agenda. In this study, we describe articles about cognitive health in top-circulating women's and men's magazines.
To identify articles on cognitive health, we manually searched all pages of 4 top-circulating women's magazines and 4 top-circulating men's magazines published in 2006 and 2007 to identify articles on cognitive health. We examined article volume, narrative and illustrative content, information sources, and contact resources.
Women's magazines had 27 cognitive health articles (5.32/1,000 pages), and men's magazines had 26 (5.26/1,000 pages). Diet was the primary focus (>75% of content) in 30% of articles in women's magazines and 27% of men's magazines. Vitamins/supplements were the focus of 15% of articles in men's magazines and 11% in women's magazines. Articles mentioned physical activity, cognitive activity, and social interaction, although these subjects were rarely the focus. Articles focused more on prevention than treatment. Topics were primarily "staying sharp," memory, and Alzheimer's disease. Colleges/universities were most often cited as sources; contacts for further information were rare. Most articles were illustrated.
Although the volume of cognitive health articles was similar in the magazines, content differed. More articles in men's magazines discussed multiple chronic conditions (eg, Alzheimer's disease), whereas more in women's magazines discussed memory. Including more articles that focus on physical activity and direct readers to credible resources could enhance the quality of cognitive health communication in the popular media.
越来越多的证据表明，身体活动、健康饮食和社会参与可能促进认知健康。大众媒体有助于确定公共卫生议程。在这项研究中，我们描述了在发行量最大的女性和男性杂志上关于认知健康的文章。
为了确定关于认知健康的文章，我们手动搜索了 2006 年和 2007 年出版的 4 种最畅销的女性杂志和 4 种最畅销的男性杂志的所有页面，以确定关于认知健康的文章。我们检查了文章的数量、叙述和说明性内容、信息来源和联系资源。
女性杂志有 27 篇认知健康文章（每 1000 页 5.32 篇），男性杂志有 26 篇（每 1000 页 5.26 篇）。饮食是女性杂志中 30%的文章（>75%的内容）和男性杂志中 27%的文章的主要关注点。男性杂志中有 15%的文章和女性杂志中有 11%的文章聚焦于维生素/补品。文章提到了身体活动、认知活动和社会互动，尽管这些主题很少成为焦点。文章主要关注预防而不是治疗。主题主要是“保持敏锐”、记忆力和阿尔茨海默病。学院/大学是最常被引用的来源；进一步信息的联系方式很少。大多数文章都有插图。
尽管杂志上认知健康文章的数量相似，但内容却有所不同。男性杂志上更多的文章讨论了多种慢性疾病（如阿尔茨海默病），而女性杂志上更多的文章讨论了记忆力。增加更多关注身体活动的文章，并引导读者访问可信资源，可以提高大众媒体中认知健康传播的质量。
