ArticleSupportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer2006
Newspaper coverage of complementary and alternative therapies for cancer--UK 2002-2004.
Article in Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 2006. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Media Influence on the Perceived Safety of Dietary Supplements for Children: A Content Analysis of Spanish News Outlets.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Scientific Quality of Health-Related Articles in Specialty Cannabis and General Newspapers in San Francisco.Journal of health communication · 2018Article
- Televised medical talk shows--what they recommend and the evidence to support their recommendations: a prospective observational study.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2014Observational
- Perceptions of the Muslim religious leaders and their attitudes on herbal medicine in Bangladesh: a cross-sectional study.BMC research notes · 2011Article
- Trick or treat? Australian newspaper portrayal of complementary and alternative medicine for the treatment of cancer.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2011Article
- Perplexity analysis of obesity news coverage.AMIA ... Annual Symposium proceedings. AMIA Symposium · 2009Article
- Comprehensive analysis of cancer coverage in important Chinese newspapers between 2000 and 2007.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2009Article
- Herbal remedy clinical trials in the media: a comparison with the coverage of conventional pharmaceuticals.BMC medicine · 2008Article
- How do the media report cancer research? A study of the UK's BBC website.British journal of cancer · 2008Article
- A scoping review of research on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and the mass media: looking back, moving forward.BMC complementary and alternative medicine · 2008Article
- Herbal medicine: buy one, get two free.Postgraduate medical journal · 2007Article
- Presenting the alternative: cancer and complementary and alternative medicine in the Canadian print media.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2007Article
- Popular health advice: entertainment or risk factor?The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2007Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundComplementary and alternative therapies (CATs) are increasingly being used by cancer patients. These patients often rely on information retrieved from the lay press, which can affect their choices towards unconventional treatments for their disease. In this study, we aimed at assessing UK newspapers' coverage of CATs for cancer.
methodsThe "Lexis Nexis" database was searched for 3-month periods in 2002, 2003 and 2004. The search terms were combined: "complementary OR alternative AND medicine OR therapy AND cancer". CATs were grouped and articles' contents were assessed according to predefined criteria.
resultsA total of 310 articles were found: 117 came from national newspapers; 193 came from local newspaper issues. The UK press showed an increasing interest towards CATs for cancer (in 2002, 81 articles; in 2003, 82 articles and in 2004, 147 articles). The most frequently mentioned alternative therapies were diets and supplements (17.7%). Articles mainly focused on CATs as possible cancer treatments (44.8%), and 53.4% of all CATs mentioned were not backed up by trial data. The tone of the articles was generally positive towards CATs. Promotional articles increased over the years, especially for cancer centres and clinics.
conclusionUK national newspapers frequently publish articles on CATs for cancer. Much of this information seems to be uncritical with a potential for misleading patients.
Indexed as
Identifiers
16703334What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.