How is chronic non‐communicable respiratory conditions research reported in European newspapers? An impact assessment for policy

Abstract

Background: Newspapers are an important means for the communication of medical research findings to policy-makers and the public, but may distort their views on the relative importance of research into, and burden from, different respiratory diseases.

The Value of UK Respiratory Conditions Research on Clinical Practice Guidelines from Other European Member States

“…The clinical importance of such a shift in the trend of the cited research evidence-base for clinical practice may be due to a potential shift towards new or experimental treatments tackling COPD. Although this cannot be inferred in this study, a previous study demonstrated that the citation of asthma research in European CPGs was more clinical than COPD [7] while research reported on newspaper stories was more basic than that of COPD [8]. Also, the latter study [8] demonstrated a heavily reporting research on asthma than COPD despite the reverse image presented by the disease burden afflicted by the European population.…”

“…Although this cannot be inferred in this study, a previous study demonstrated that the citation of asthma research in European CPGs was more clinical than COPD [7] while research reported on newspaper stories was more basic than that of COPD [8]. Also, the latter study [8] demonstrated a heavily reporting research on asthma than COPD despite the reverse image presented by the disease burden afflicted by the European population. However, with limited funding, such research practices may even lead to further variation between countries' CPG focus and even greater disparities between the different respiratory conditions.…”

“…Research on chronic non-communicable respiratory conditions is limited with only 0.77% of the overall biomedical research output in Europe attributed to these and 0.55% in the world between 2002 and 2013, while their disease burden accounts eight-times more [7,8]. Additionally, research in this field is unresearched with a 2.5%-4.5% funding across biomedical research and 4.3% within the European Union's (EU) seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7) [8,9].…”

“…Additionally, research in this field is unresearched with a 2.5%-4.5% funding across biomedical research and 4.3% within the European Union's (EU) seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7) [8,9]. For the period 2007-2013 the UK received a total of €8.8 billion from EU, while the EU received €77.7 billion worth of UK funding [10].…”

Controversies and New Hypotheses on Exercise-Induced Bronchospasm in Hot and Humid Air

“…Chronic respiratory disease is one of the world's leading global health system issues [1], [2]. Indeed, asthma, a chronic disease of the respiratory airways, affects more than 300 million people worldwide [3], [4] with a significantly increased incidence in recent decades [5]- [7].…”