Media Doctor Australia Featured Articles

Hunter study discovers chronic cough treatment (rated 3.5 stars)

This is a good story on a new treatment for chronic cough. Treating chronic cough could be seen as disease mongering (where sickness - and a treatment - is marketed to as large a population as possible). This doesn't mean that chronic cough isn't a problem for some people (it is) or that there is something wrong with the research (it's a high level of evidence).

The press releases for this story erred on the side of 'disease mongering' by referring to the size of the potentially affected population and the possibility of including the drug in treatment guidelines. The story remained objective by informing readers of the downside of the findings eg the treatment benefits only last while taking the tablets and that research is being done on other drugs with better side effect profiles.

The story didn't say whether the drug is approved in Australia for this condition and there was no independent comment.

Chocolate a sweetheart deal (rated 5 stars)

An excellent piece of reporting about a Cochrane review on the benefits of cocoa in people with high blood pressure.

Weights linked to lower diabetes risk (rated 3 stars)

Most guidelines recommend 3 X weekly weight training for diabetes, what is new about this study is weight training for diabetes prevention, not for diabetes. While the story provides some good description about the research and the findings, it doesn't state the level of evidence (which is relatively low for this type of study) and it doesn't seek comment from an independent source. The researcher is pretty much always going to say their study is great.

Low-risk people benefit from heart drugs (rated 3.5 stars)

This is a good story which covers most aspects needed to inform readers. It makes clear these drugs are available and an extension of their current use would come at a high cost to the PBS. Diet, exercise and weight control are cited as important alternatives before drugs are considered. It also includes an excellent independent comment from the Heart Foundation. Missing was the evidence behind the findings, any adverse events associated with the drugs and exactly what the findings are: there is only reference to benefits in a low cardiovascular risk population.

Blood test takes risk out of prenatal testing (rated 4.5 stars)

Two new blood tests being developed to replace amniocentesis are discussed in this story which covers all the important aspects around this highly sensitive area. Identifying foetal abnormalities at this stage of a pregnancy allow parents and doctors to make decision in terms of future treatment or terminating pregnancy. Therefore diagnostic accuracy for both false positive and false negatives is essential. The story covers these topics in some detail. It would have enhanced the story to have a local expert provide comment in terms of when the future of this type of testing in Australia.

HIV home testing kit approved (rated 3.5 stars)

This story is imported from an overseas news agency and describes a new HIV diagnostic test approved for use in the USA. The story clearly describes the important issues of false positive and false negative rates associated with this test but not how it compares with existing blood tests. False positives occur about 1 in every 5000 but the rate of false negative results was one is 12, which seems very high. More information about the evidence supporting the test would have been interesting. Comment from a local expert would have made the story more relevant to local readers and could have answered questions such as if and when this test will be available in Australia.

New breast cancer drug shown to prolong life (rated 3.5 stars)

This is a good story about new research on breast cancer treatment. It makes clear that the evidence comes from a conference presentation rather than an article in a peer reviewed journal (a higher level of evidence). However the story does not discuss the fact that there are several monoclonal antibody treatments already on the market.

The story has been imported from the New York Times and although it rates well, its readers would have benefited from local independent expert comment.