[Health information in the daily local press].
OBJECTIVE
To know how much health-related information is published in the daily local press, type of information; pathologies; practical help offered, and sources.


METHODS
Crossover descriptive study.


METHODS
Community.


METHODS
Health articles (events and publicity excluded) published in the newspapers of Bizkaia: Deia, Egin, Egunkaria, El Correo and El Mundo; sample included all issues from one fortnight of June and one fortnight of September of 1996.


RESULTS
501 articles, which occupied 1.57% of the impressed surface, were published. 90% of the issues had health articles. 19.8% appeared in once-weekly health sections. Subjects considered as health culture were 49.9% scientific and technical information and 9.8% health habits and vaccinations. When compared with the rest of the newspaper, health sections gave more explicit advice (p = 0.04) and diferred in sources of information (p < 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Health articles are almost daily published. The most frequent type was the spread of scientific and technical information. Current information topics are dominant. A few articles give explicit advice or referred to health habits. Acknowledgement of the sources could be improved. It would be desirable to investigate the quality of contents.
Unzueta Zamalloa
L
L
Centro de Salud de Deusto (Bilbao), Unidad Docente de Medicina Familiar y Comunitaria de Bizkaia.
Najarro Ajuria
G
G
Mendíbil Crespo
I
I
Galán Morales
F
F
Garay Narvarte
F J
FJ
D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D018156:Journalism, Medical; D008402:Mass Media / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011634:Public Health; D013030:Spain
Información sobre salud en la prensa diaria local.