Hind, D. (Daniel), Wailoo, Allan J. and Sutcliffe, Paul A.. (2011) Demands for ‘off-licence’ access to trastuzumab (Herceptin) : content analysis of UK newspaper articles. Health Expectations, Vol.14 (No.1). pp. 38-47. ISSN 13696513

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

Background: Sensationalized reporting styles and a distorted framing of health-care issues in newspapers may trigger inappropriate commissioning decisions. We evaluated UK press coverage of pre-licensing access to trastuzumab (Herceptin) for early breast cancer as a case study. Methods and findings: Content analysis of newspaper articles published between April 2005 and May 2006 were coded by two researchers for interest groups represented, claims made and sensationalized reporting. Disagreements in coding were resolved by a third researcher. One thousand and ninety published articles were identified in the study period and a 20% sample (n = 218) was included in the content analysis. Most articles (76%, 95% CI 71–82) included claims about the clinical benefits of trastuzumab, and this was significantly higher than those expressing the uncertainty surrounding such benefits (6%, 95% CI 3–9) or those that discussed the potential harms (5%, 95% CI 2–8). Articles were significantly more likely to feature claims made by a breast cancer survivor or family member than any other interest group (P < 0.0001). Almost half of the articles carried some message to the effect that trastuzumab would make the difference between life and death (47%, 95% CI 40–53). Over a quarter (28%, 95% CI 22–34) suggested that trastuzumab is a ‘miracle drug’ or similar. Conclusions: The benefits of drugs are highlighted, frequently using sensationalist language, without equal consideration of uncertainty or risks. Health-care purchasers should express decisions in opportunity cost terms; journalists should give fairer coverage to such arguments.

[error in script] [error in script]

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0254 Neoplasms. Tumors. Oncology (including Cancer) R Medicine > RM Therapeutics. Pharmacology
Divisions:	Faculty of Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Warwick Evidence Faculty of Medicine > Warwick Medical School
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Trastuzumab, Medical care, Cost of -- Great Britain, Health in mass media, Content analysis (Communication), Great Britain. National Health Service
Journal or Publication Title:	Health Expectations
Publisher:	Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
ISSN:	13696513
Date:	March 2011
Volume:	Vol.14
Number:	No.1
Page Range:	pp. 38-47
Identification Number:	10.1111/j.1369-7625.2010.00617.x
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
References:	1 Schwitzer G, Mudur G, Henry D et al. What are the roles and responsibilities of the media in disseminating health information? Public Library of Science Medicine 2005; 2 (doi: 10.1371/journal. pmed.0020215). 2 Entwistle V. Reporting research in medical journals and newspapers. British Medical Journal, 1995; 310: 920–923. 3 Entwistle V, Hancock-Beaulieu M. Health and medical coverage in the UK national press. Public Understanding of Science, 1992; 1: 367–382. 4 Entwistle VA, Watt IS, Bradbury R et al. Media coverage of the Child B case. British Medical Journal, 1996; 312: 1587–1591. 5 Chan AW, Altman DG. Identifying outcome reporting bias in randomised trials on PubMed: review of publications and survey of authors. British Medical Journal, 2005; 330: 753. 6 Ioannidis JPA, Lau J. Completeness of safety reporting in randomized trials: an evaluation of 7 medical areas. Journal of the American Medical Association, 2001; 285: 437–443. 7 Mayor S. The public needs better understanding of drug regulation. British Medical Journal, 2006; 332: 990–99a. 8 Jefford M, Savulescu J, Thomson J et al. Medical paternalism and expensive unsubsidised drugs. British Medical Journal, 2005; 331: 1075–1077. 9 Romond EH, Perez EA, Bryant J et al. Trastuzumab plus adjuvant chemotherapy for operable HER2-positive breast cancer. New England Journal of Medicine, 2005; 353: 1673–1684. 10 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. Trastuzumab for the adjuvant treatment of early stage HER2-positive breast cancer, London: NICE, 2006. 11 Rosen PP, Groshen S, Saigo PE et al. A long-term follow-up study of survival in stage I (T1N0M0) and stage II (T1N1M0) breast carcinoma. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 1989; 7: 355–366. 12 Bonadonna G, Valagussa P, Moliterni A et al. Adjuvant cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil in node-positive breast cancer: the results of 20 years of follow-up. New England Journal of Medicine, 1995; 332: 901–906. 13 Hind D, Pilgrim H, Ward S. Questions about adjuvant trastuzumab still remain. The Lancet, 2007; 369: 3–5. 14 Moynihan R, Bero L, Ross-Degnan D et al. Coverage by the news media of the benefits and risks of medications. New England Journal of Medicine, 2000; 342: 1645–1650. 15 Schwitzer G. The seven words you shouldn't use in medical news. 2002. Available at: http://www.tc.um n.edu/~schwitz/The7words.htm, accessed 4 February 2009. 16 Herceptin: summary of product characteristics. 2009. Available at: http://www.medicines.org.uk, accessed 4 February 2009. 17 Newcombe RG. Two-sided confidence intervals for the single proportion: comparison of seven methods. Statistics in Medicine, 2008; 17: 857–872. 18 McNemar Q. Note on the sampling error of the difference between correlated proportions or percentages. Psychometrika, 1947; 12: 151–153. 19 King's Fund. Policy position: NICE and Herceptin (November 2005). Available at: http://www.kings fund.org.uk/news/briefings/policy_position.html, accessed 4 February 2009. 20 Trastuzumab in combination therapy for HER2-positive early breast cancer patients. San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium Newsletter 2: 2–3. 2005. 21 Joensuu H, Kellokumpu-Lehtinen PL, Bono P et al. Adjuvant docetaxel or vinorelbine with or without trastuzumab for breast cancer. [see comment]. New England Journal of Medicine, 2006; 354: 809–820. 22 Deacon D, Pickering M, Golding P, Murdock G Unpacking news. In: Researching Communications: A Practical Guide to Methods in Media and Cultural Analysis. London: Arnold, 1999: 162–184. 23 Schlesinger P. Putting ‘‘Reality’’ Together. London: Methuen, 1978. 24 Boseley S. The selling of a wonder drug. Guardian, 29 March 2006. 25 Wilson PM, Booth AM, Eastwood A et al. Deconstructing media coverage of trastuzumab (Herceptin): an analysis of national newspaper coverage. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 2008; 101: 125–132. 26 Harrabin R, Coote A, Allen J. Health in the News: Risk, Reporting and Media Influence. London: King's Fund, 2003. 27 Schwitzer G. How do US journalists cover treatments, tests, products, and procedures? An evaluation of 500 stories Public Library of Science Medicine, 2008; 5: e95. 28 Cassels A, Hughes MA, Cole C et al. Drugs in the news: an analysis of Canadian newspaper coverage of new prescription drugs. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 2003; 168: 1133–1137. 29 Smith DE, Wilson AJ, Henry DA. Monitoring the quality of medical news reporting: early experience with media doctor. The Medical Journal of Australia, 2005; 183: 190–193. 30 Wells J, Cheong-Leen C. NICE appraisals should be everybody's business. British Medical Journal, 2007; 334: 936–938. 31 Culyer A, McCabe C, Briggs A et al. Searching for a threshold – Not so. Journal of Health Services Research and Policy, 2007; 12: 190–191. 32 Cooksey SD. A review of UK health research funding. 2006. 33 Kmietowicz Z. NICE is to root out ineffective treatments in NHS. British Medical Journal, 2006; 333: 568a. 34 Wishart A (2009) Price of Life (BBC Television documentary). Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/ b00l9dmw, accessed 17 June 2009. 35 Barrett A, Roques T, Small M et al. How much will Herceptin really cost? British Medical Journal, 2006; 333: 1118–1120.
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/37404

Data sourced from Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge

Request changes to a record

Actions (login required)

View Item