US newspaper articles on lung cancer screening over last 10 years mostly positive

Key takeaways:

• 76% of newspaper articles on lung cancer screening were positive.
• Screening enrollment criteria, smoking cessation programs and the need for yearly CT were prominent topics in these articles.

More than three-fourths of newspaper articles on lung cancer screening published from 2010 to 2022 had a positive sentiment, according to study results published in American Journal of Roentgenology.

“Sentiment of U.S. newspaper articles covering lung cancer screening from 2010 to 2022 was overall positive. However, certain key elements of lung cancer screening were infrequently mentioned,” Zachary D. Zippi, PharmD, third-year medical student at Florida International University College of Medicine, and colleagues wrote.

In a cross-sectional study, Zippi and colleagues analyzed 859 U.S. newspaper articles that referenced lung cancer screening or low-dose CT lung cancer screening between Jan. 1, 2010, and March 28, 2022, to gain an understanding of the quantity, sentiment and content of these articles. Importantly, 2010 marked the release of the National Lung Screening Trial results, according to researchers.

After articles were distributed among researchers, each was evaluated to determine its sentiment (positive, negative or neutral) toward lung cancer screening. Screening benefits, an urge for participation, an urge for more access to screening for minority groups and screening program promotion represented some of the themes that deemed an article as positive. Articles that discussed screening drawbacks, potential overuse and unnecessary costs were determined to have a negative sentiment.

Zippi and colleagues also recorded other information pertaining to the article, such as overarching themes, benefits/harms of screening and mention of a radiologist.

Of the assessed articles, 816 appeared in just one newspaper, whereas 43 appeared in several newspapers. Full-length news articles represented 65% of the total, whereas news briefs or short announcements made up 31% of the total. The remainder of the articles were categorized as editorial/opinion and letter to the editor.

Over 2010 to 2022, researchers observed that 2014 was the year with the most articles on lung cancer screening (15%), whereas 2020 was the year with the smallest number of articles (4%).

Researchers found that a majority of the articles had a positive sentiment (76%), followed by neutral sentiments (21%) and negative sentiments (3%).

When looking at regions, the Northeast had the greatest number of positive articles out of its total amount of articles, whereas the Midwest had the smallest number (81% vs. 67%).

When split up by weekly readership circulation with quartile 1 having the highest weekly circulation (121,013 to 1,571,104) and quartile 4 having the lowest (713 to 22,067), researchers observed that quartile 4 had the most positive articles, and quartile 2 had the least (82% vs. 70%). Further, quartile 1 had more negative articles than quartiles 2, 3 or 4 (8% vs. 2% vs. < 1% vs. < 1%).

Nearly half (47%) of articles brought up low-dose CT screening as the main focus, whereas 22% of articles included it as a secondary focus and 31% had it as a minor focus.

In terms of the frequency of themes in these articles, researchers found that a little more than half (52%) brought up lung cancer screening enrollment criteria. Less common topics within articles included smoking cessation programs (28%), the need for yearly CT (27%), steps following screening (9%) and shared decision making (4%).

Additionally, more than a quarter (33%) of articles spoke on cost or insurance coverage for lung cancer screening.

The South had the highest frequency of mentioning screening enrollment criteria (58%), smoking cessation programs (34%) and need for yearly CT (34%) compared with the Midwest, Northeast and West regions.

Assessing popular themes by publication year, researchers found that 41% of the articles published in the most recent years (between 2019 and 2021) were on promoting local lung cancer screening programs, which was a change from the highest common theme of screening benefits/the urge for screening (45%) from 2016 and 2018.

Researchers also evaluated the frequency of lung cancer screening benefits and harms referred to and found a greater percentage of articles discussing one or more benefits than the percentage of articles discussing one or more harms (64% vs. 23%). Frequent benefits discussed in articles included early detection/possible lung cancer cures (49%) and decreased mortality (49%).

Radiologist recognition in articles was small (9%) but mostly positive (88%).

“Frequent omission of key benefits, risks, eligibility criteria and screening logistics highlights the need for improved newspaper coverage of lung cancer screening,” Zippi and colleagues wrote. “Infrequent inclusion of radiologists in the articles indicates an opportunity for radiologists to take a more active role in lung cancer screening media coverage.”

Reference:

• AJR on a decade of lung cancer screening in American newspapers. https://www.itnonline.com/content/ajr-decade-lung-cancer-screening-american-newspapers. Published March 15, 2023. Accessed March 15, 2023.