Covering Women's Greatest Health Fear: Breast Cancer Information in Consumer Magazines

Abstract

Women identify consumer magazines as a key source of information on many health topics, including breast cancer, which continues to rank as women's greatest personal health fear. This study examined the comprehensiveness and accuracy of breast cancer information provided in 555 articles published in 17 consumer magazines from 2002 through 2007. Accuracy of information was determined for 33 key breast cancer facts identified by an expert panel as important information for women to know. The results show that only 7 of 33 key facts were mentioned in at least 5% of the articles. These facts all dealt with breast cancer risk factors, screening, and detection; none of the key facts related to treatment or outcomes appeared in at least 5% of the articles. Other topics (not key facts) mentioned centered around controllable risk factors, support for breast cancer patients, and chemotherapy treatment. The majority of mentions of key facts were coded as fully accurate, although as much as 44% of mentions of some topics (the link between hormone replacement therapy and breast cancer) were coded as inaccurate or only partially accurate. The magazines were most likely to emphasize family history of breast cancer or genetic characteristics as risk factors for breast cancers; family history was twice as likely to be discussed as increasing age, which is in fact the most important risk factor for breast cancer other than being female. Magazine coverage may contribute to women's inaccurate perceptions of their breast cancer risk.

Notes

¹According to the National Cancer Institute's Surveillence Epidemiology and End Results Cancer Statistics Review, from 2001 to 2005, the median age at diagnosis of breast cancer was 61 years; 65% of breast cancer cases occurred among women 55 and older, and nearly 42% occurred in women 65 and older (SEER Stat Fact Sheets, n.d.). In 2005, incidence rates for women in the older age brackets (50–64, 65–74, and 75+) were four to six times as high as those for women aged 20–49 (Fast Stats, n.d.)

²The complete list of key facts is available from the first author.

³We did not include in our data set the dates when particular items were coded, and new data were simply added to the main data set as they were completed. Each time we reviewed intercoder agreement, we examined each variable separately to determine that each had adequate coder agreement (85% or better) and to assess individual coders' consistency with the rest of the coding team. However, we did not maintain records of the results of these periodic assessments.

⁴Agreement percentages and Cohen's kappa figures for each of the commonly occurring variable are available on request from the first author.

⁵All of these articles were published before the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force's November 2009 release of new recommendations about when women should begin having mammograms, so that controversy could not have influenced the coverage.

⁶This is based on the assumption that all magazines published 12 issues per year except for AARP Magazine, which publishes bi-monthly. In addition, Women's Health was launched in October 2005, meaning that only 27 issues would have been included in the sample.