Division of Cancer Care and Epidemiology, Queen's University Cancer Research Institute, Kingston, Canada; School of Medicine and Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda; Department of Oncology, Rwanda Military Hospital, Kigali, Rwanda; Rwanda Cancer Relief, Kigali, Rwanda; Departments of Oncology, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada; Public Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada.
Division of Cancer Care and Epidemiology, Queen's University Cancer Research Institute, Kingston, Canada; School of Nursing, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada.
J Cancer Policy. 2023 Jun;36:100418. doi: 10.1016/j.jcpo.2023.100418. Epub 2023 Mar 4.
Information and stories about cancer treatment are increasingly available to patients and the general public through lay media, websites, blogs and social media. While these resources may be helpful to supplement information provided during physician-patient discussions, there is growing concern about the extent to which media reports accurately reflect advances in cancer care. This review aimed to understand the landscape of published research which has described media coverage of cancer treatments.
This literature review included peer-reviewed primary research articles that reported how cancer treatments are portrayed in the lay media. A structured literature search of Medline, EMBASE and Google Scholar was performed. Potentially eligible articles were reviewed by three authors for inclusion. Three reviewers, each independently reviewed eligible studies; discrepancies were resolved by consensus.
Fourteen studies were included. The content of the eligible studies reflected two thematic categories: articles that reviewed specific drugs/cancer treatment (n = 7) and articles that described media coverage of cancer treatment in general terms (n = 7). Key findings include the media's frequent and unfounded use of superlatives and hype for new cancer treatments. Parallel to this, media reports over-emphasize potential treatment benefits and do not present a balanced view of risks of side effects, cost, and death. At a broad level, there is emerging evidence that media reporting of cancer treatments may directly impact patient care and policy-making.
This review identifies problems in current media reports of new cancer advances - especially with undue use of superlatives and hype. Given the frequency with which patients access this information and the potential for it to influence policy, there is a need for additional research in this space in addition to educational interventions with health journalists. The oncology community - scientists and clinicians - must ensure that we are not contributing to these problems.
通过大众媒体、网站、博客和社交媒体，患者和公众可获得越来越多的癌症治疗信息和故事。虽然这些资源可能有助于补充医生与患者讨论中提供的信息，但人们越来越担心媒体报道在多大程度上准确反映了癌症治疗的进展。本综述旨在了解描述癌症治疗媒体报道的已发表研究的概况。
本文献综述包括描述大众媒体对癌症治疗的描述的同行评审的原始研究文章。对 Medline、EMBASE 和 Google Scholar 进行了结构化文献检索。由三位作者对潜在合格文章进行了审查以确定是否纳入。三位审稿人独立审查合格研究；通过协商解决分歧。
纳入了 14 项研究。合格研究的内容反映了两个主题类别：回顾特定药物/癌症治疗的文章（n=7）和描述癌症治疗一般媒体报道的文章（n=7）。主要发现包括媒体频繁且毫无根据的对新癌症治疗方法使用最高级和夸大其词。与之平行的是，媒体报道过分强调潜在的治疗益处，而不公正地看待副作用、成本和死亡的风险。从广义上讲，有证据表明媒体对癌症治疗的报道可能直接影响患者护理和决策制定。
本综述确定了当前新癌症进展媒体报道中存在的问题 - 尤其是过度使用最高级和夸大其词。鉴于患者经常访问这些信息，并且它有可能影响政策，因此除了对健康记者进行教育干预外，还需要在这方面进行更多的研究。肿瘤学界——科学家和临床医生——必须确保我们没有助长这些问题。
