Important study facts often missing in media reports about medical research

[Guest guest]

FYI:

Contact: Dr. Schwartz

lisa.schwartz@...

802-296-5178

Dartmouth Medical School

Important

study facts often missing in media reports about medical research

WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, VT/HANOVER, NH -- News stories about medical

research, often based on initial findings presented at professional

conferences, frequently omit basic facts about the study and fail to highlight

important limitations, warn Dartmouth researchers in the latest issue of the

Medical Journal of Australia. Such omissions can mislead the public and distort

the actual significance of the research, they caution.

Dr.

Schwartz and Dr. Woloshin, both Associate Professors of Medicine at

Dartmouth Medical School (Hanover, New Hampshire) and at the VA Outcomes Group

(White River Junction, Vermont), writing in the June 4, 2006 issue of MJA,

studied media coverage of research presented at scientific meetings.

" Scientific

meetings are an important forum for researchers to exchange ideas and present

work in progress. But much of the work presented is not ready for public

consumption, " said Schwartz. " The studies have undergone limited

review and findings may change substantially by the time the final report is

published in a medical journal. " And, she noted, " Some meeting

presentations are never published at all. "

Nonetheless,

scientific meeting research receives extensive news media coverage.

" Unless journalists are careful to provide basic study facts and highlight

limitations the public may be misled about the meaning, importance and validity

of the research " , said Woloshin. For their study, the team analyzed

newspaper, TV and radio stories that appeared in the US for research reports

from five major scientific meetings in 2002 and 2003 to see if basic study

facts (eg., size, design) were reported; whether cautions about inherent study

weaknesses were noted; and if the news stories were clear about the preliminary

stage of the research.

The

researchers found that basic study facts were often missing. For example, a

third of reports failed to mention study size; 40% did not quantify the main

result at all.

Important

study limitations were often missing. For example, only 6% (1/17) of the news

stories about animal studies noted that results might not apply to humans. And

only 2 of 175 stories about unpublished studies noted that the study was

unpublished. Schwartz and Woloshin, who frequently present to the media on how

to understand and accurately report research results, say that while reporters can

and should do better, another reason for misinterpreted or

" over-hyped " research is its early release at professional meetings

that reporters are encouraged to attend.

" It

is not hard to understand why research presented at scientific meetings garners

extensive media attention, " they write. " Researchers benefit from the

attention because it is a mark of academic success, their academic affiliates

benefit because good publicity attracts patients and donors, and research

funders – public and private – benefit when they can show a good

return on their investments. The meeting organizers benefit too; extensive

media coverage attracts more advertisers, and higher profile scientists for the

following year, guaranteeing more dramatic reports and ultimately more

press. "

Moreover,

they note, " the public has a strong appetite for medical news and

scientific meetings provide the media with an easy source of provocative

material. "

Given the

reality that a decrease in media coverage of scientific meetings is not likely,

the authors urge reporters and editors to make sure their stories include three

things: (1) basic study facts: what kind of study was done, how many subjects

were included, what was the main result; (2) cautions about study designs with

intrinsic limitations; and (3) clear statements about the preliminary stage of

the work under discussion.

###

Drs.

Woloshin and Schwartz were supported by Veterans Affairs Career Development

Awards in Health Services Research and Development and Wood Generalist

Faculty Scholar Awards. This study was supported by a grant from the National

Cancer Institute and from a Research Enhancement Award from the Department of

Veterans Affairs.

Contact:

Dr. Schwartz – 802-296-5178 – lisa.schwartz@...