Sumner Petroc, Vivian-Griffiths Solveiga, Boivin Jacky, Williams Andy, Venetis Christos A, Davies Aimée, Ogden Jack, Whelan Leanne, Hughes Bethan, Dalton Bethan, Boy Fred, Chambers Christopher D
Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK School of Psychology, Cardiff University, UK
Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK School of Psychology, Cardiff University, UK.
BMJ. 2014 Dec 9;349:g7015. doi: 10.1136/bmj.g7015.
To identify the source (press releases or news) of distortions, exaggerations, or changes to the main conclusions drawn from research that could potentially influence a reader's health related behaviour.
Retrospective quantitative content analysis.
Journal articles, press releases, and related news, with accompanying simulations.
Press releases (n = 462) on biomedical and health related science issued by 20 leading UK universities in 2011, alongside their associated peer reviewed research papers and news stories (n = 668).
Advice to readers to change behaviour, causal statements drawn from correlational research, and inference to humans from animal research that went beyond those in the associated peer reviewed papers.
40% (95% confidence interval 33% to 46%) of the press releases contained exaggerated advice, 33% (26% to 40%) contained exaggerated causal claims, and 36% (28% to 46%) contained exaggerated inference to humans from animal research. When press releases contained such exaggeration, 58% (95% confidence interval 48% to 68%), 81% (70% to 93%), and 86% (77% to 95%) of news stories, respectively, contained similar exaggeration, compared with exaggeration rates of 17% (10% to 24%), 18% (9% to 27%), and 10% (0% to 19%) in news when the press releases were not exaggerated. Odds ratios for each category of analysis were 6.5 (95% confidence interval 3.5 to 12), 20 (7.6 to 51), and 56 (15 to 211). At the same time, there was little evidence that exaggeration in press releases increased the uptake of news.
Exaggeration in news is strongly associated with exaggeration in press releases. Improving the accuracy of academic press releases could represent a key opportunity for reducing misleading health related news.
识别可能影响读者健康相关行为的、对研究得出的主要结论的歪曲、夸大或改动的来源（新闻稿或新闻）。
回顾性定量内容分析。
期刊文章、新闻稿及相关新闻，并伴有模拟。
2011年英国20所顶尖大学发布的关于生物医学和健康相关科学的新闻稿（n = 462），以及与其相关的同行评审研究论文和新闻报道（n = 668）。
建议读者改变行为、从相关性研究得出的因果陈述，以及从动物研究推断到人类且超出相关同行评审论文范围的内容。
40%（95%置信区间33%至46%）的新闻稿包含夸大的建议，33%（26%至40%）包含夸大的因果声明，36%（28%至46%）包含从动物研究到人类的夸大推断。当新闻稿存在此类夸大时，新闻报道中分别有58%（95%置信区间48%至68%）、81%（70%至93%）和86%（77%至95%）包含类似的夸大，而当新闻稿没有夸大时，新闻中的夸大率分别为17%（10%至24%）、18%（9%至27%）和10%（0%至19%）。各类分析的优势比分别为6.5（95%置信区间3.5至12）、20（7.6至51）和56（15至211）。同时，几乎没有证据表明新闻稿中的夸大增加了新闻的接受度。
新闻中的夸大与新闻稿中的夸大密切相关。提高学术新闻稿的准确性可能是减少误导性健康相关新闻的关键契机。
