Using superlatives in the media for cancer drugs

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-10/tjnj-usi102815.php

Public Release: 29-Oct-2015
Using superlatives in the media for cancer drugs
The JAMA Network Journals

The use of superlatives to describe cancer drugs in news articles as "breakthrough," "revolutionary," "miracle" or in other grandiose terms was common even when drugs were not yet approved, had no clinical data or not yet shown overall survival benefits, according to an article published online by JAMA Oncology.

The omission of medical context or the use of inflated descriptions can lead to misunderstandings among readers. Vinay Prasad, M.D., M.P.H., of the Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, and coauthors examined the use of modest and superlative descriptors in news articles regarding cancer drugs.

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