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Media coverage of updated hypertension guideline favors benefits
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Most media coverage of the 2017 updated hypertension guideline by the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association did not focus on potential harms of expanding the definition of hypertension, according to an analysis published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Raymond Noel Moynihan, PhD, senior research fellow at the Centre for Research in Evidence-Based Practice at Bond University in Gold Coast, Australia, and colleagues analyzed 100 unique stories, 15 press releases and 37 journal articles on the hypertension guideline between November 2017 and July 13, 2018.
Primary outcomes of interest were the proportion of stories that covered potential benefits, potential harms, potential conflicts of interest of the ACC/AHA panel and a balance of benefits and harms.
Of the unique stories in this analysis, 67% of them did not mention any harms (95% CI, 58-76) and 98% discussed the benefits of the guideline (95% CI, 95-100), according to the researchers. In addition, 98% did not mention conflicts of interest (95% CI, 95-100) and 73% favored the benefits overall (95% CI, 64-82).
The benefits of the expanded definition of hypertension were similarly favored in press releases. Journal articles were more balanced, as one-third of the articles favored the overall benefits of the expanded definition, researchers wrote.
“In light of moves to reform disease definition processes, our findings suggest a need to improve media coverage of expanding disease definitions, particularly when those expanding definitions may cause many people harm,” Moynihan and colleagues wrote. – by Darlene Dobkowski
Disclosures: Moynihan reports he received support from the National Health and Medical Research Council and serves as a member of the scientific committee for the Preventing Overdiagnosis conference. The other authors report no relevant financial disclosures.
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