Most Articles About Cancer Focused On The Positive Outcome Of Treatment

Most Articles About Cancer Focused On The Positive Outcome Of Treatment.
People often beef that media reports bias near bad news, but when it comes to cancer most newspaper and armoury stories may be overly optimistic, US researchers suggest weightloss. The mull over authors found that articles were more probably to highlight aggressive treatment and survival, with far less notice given to cancer death, treatment failure, adverse events and end-of-life palliative or hospice care, according to their boom in the March 22 egress of the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.

The University of Pennsylvania set analyzed 436 cancer-related stories published in eight munificent newspapers and five national magazines between 2005 and 2007. The articles were most disposed to to focus on breast cancer (35 percent) or prostate cancer (nearly 15 percent), while 20 percent discussed cancer in general.

There were 140 stories (32 percent) that highlighted patients surviving or being cured of cancer, 33 stories (7,6 percent) that dealt with one or more patients who were with one foot in the grave or had died of cancer, and 10 articles (2,3 percent) that focused on both survival and death, the swat authors noted. "It is surprising that few articles argue extermination and sinking insomuch as that half of all patients diagnosed as having cancer will not survive," wrote Jessica Fishman and colleagues.

So "The findings are also surprising given that scientists, media critics and the ballad notable again analyse the scuttlebutt for focusing on death". Among the other findings.

Only 13 percent (57 articles) mentioned that some cancers are inveterate and litigious cancer treatments may not extend life. Less than one-third (131 articles) mentioned the cancelling side effects associated with cancer treatments (such as nausea, dolour or hair loss). While more than half (249 articles, or 57 percent) reported on quarrelsome treatments exclusively, only two discussed end-of-life guardianship exclusively and only 11 reported on both assertive treatments and end-of-life care.