ORIGINAL ARTICLECoverage of Coma in Headlines of US Newspapers From 2001 Through 2005
Section snippets
METHODS
We used the Lexis-Nexis database to search US newspapers from January 1, 2001, through December 31, 2005. We searched the leading newspaper with the highest circulation of each state. Leading newspapers were found on http://newslink.org/topstate.html. A leading newspaper was defined as a full-service newspaper that serves the nation's 50 largest metropolitan areas, with populations in excess of 1 million as determined by the latest US Census Bureau metropolitan area population estimates (see
RESULTS
We identified 340 newspaper stories based on headlines from 93,075 newspapers. Most reported articles were in the states of California (35 articles) and Florida (25 articles). Figure 1 depicts the number of articles published in each state. The reporting of articles was constant throughout the surveyed years and did not change notably per state exceptfor Florida, in which 10 articles published in 2004 were found compared with 3 in each of the remaining 4 years.
The main results are summarized in
DISCUSSION
Physicians, in conversations with the family, must have an understanding of their perception of coma. This perception may be framed by the mainstream media. We were interested in what the public reads in leading newspapers. Our review of a large number of US newspapers, during a 5-year epoch, found that coma is infrequently mentioned in headlines. We found a remarkable consistency and frequency of reporting on coma throughout the years. A 3-fold increase in reports on coma was noted in Florida
CONCLUSION
When coma is a topic, the reporters of major US newspapers select stories that involve young individuals involved in violence or trauma. However, a recent cohort that included 104 intensive care units in 45 US hospitals reported an average patient age of 61 years.6 Furthermore, in another study on coma in the intensive care unit, patients were most commonly admitted because of drug intoxication and suicide attempts, stroke, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and shock.7 Thus, the general impression
Acknowledgments
We thank Larry J. Prokop, MS, MLS, Mayo librarian, for help with searching the Lexis-Nexis database and Terry L. Duffy for secretarial help.
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