Department of General Surgery, The Great Western Hospital, Marlborough road, Swindon, UK.
Int J Clin Pract. 2011 May;65(5):547-51. doi: 10.1111/j.1742-1241.2011.02658.x.
The media may affect how illness is perceived, in terms of its prevalence, severity and outcomes. The media also influences our perception of death and leads to an overestimation of incidence of some causes of mortality. Articles depicting medical subjects may not be in-depth and are often influenced by non-medical issues. The media has both a positive impact on the population, in providing opportunistic health information, and a negative impact, causing an overestimation of severity and incidence of certain diseases. This article aims to assess if media reporting of illness and death represents national statistics.
The 10 most common daily read UK newspapers were assessed for articles relating to the most common causes of UK mortality. The searches were performed via each newspaper's online search facility over a 12-month period. Where appropriate, media friendly terms were used as search terms.
A total of 18,482 pertinent articles were found relating to the most common causes of death in the UK. When the reportage of illness was compared with the actual incidence cerebrovascular accidents and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were under-represented in the media, with ratios 0.31 and 0.01 to 1, respectively. Flu/pneumonia, prostate cancer, dementia and breast cancer all have a large media profile, with ratios of 5.52, 3.06, 4.09 and 4.9 to 1, respectively.
The media has a significant impact on our perceptions of illness and death. This may influence how patients seek medical attention and their concerns at consultation. Strategies to improve the educational content of the media may enhance the dissemination of health information via this resource.
媒体可能会影响人们对疾病的看法，包括其流行程度、严重程度和结果。媒体还会影响我们对死亡的看法，导致对某些死亡原因的发病率的高估。描述医学主题的文章可能不够深入，并且常常受到非医学问题的影响。媒体对公众既有积极影响，提供机会性健康信息，也有消极影响，导致对某些疾病的严重程度和发病率的高估。本文旨在评估媒体对疾病和死亡的报道是否代表国家统计数据。
评估了英国最常见的 10 种日报，以了解与英国主要死亡原因相关的文章。通过每个报纸的在线搜索功能，在 12 个月的时间内进行了搜索。在适当的情况下，使用媒体友好的术语作为搜索词。
共发现 18482 篇与英国常见死因相关的相关文章。当将疾病的报道与实际发病率进行比较时，脑血管意外和慢性阻塞性肺疾病在媒体中的报道不足，比例分别为 0.31 和 0.01 比 1。流感/肺炎、前列腺癌、痴呆和乳腺癌在媒体中都有很大的影响力，比例分别为 5.52、3.06、4.09 和 4.9 比 1。
媒体对我们对疾病和死亡的看法有重大影响。这可能会影响患者寻求医疗的方式以及他们在咨询时的关注点。改善媒体教育内容的策略可以通过这一资源增强健康信息的传播。
