Misleading presentation of breast cancer in popular magazines.
BACKGROUND
Women commonly misunderstand their risk for breast cancer, overestimating both their risk for developing the disease at a young age and their lifetime risk.


OBJECTIVE
To determine whether age bias occurs in popular media coverage of breast cancer. SELECTION STRATEGY: The search term breast cancer was used to identify 389 articles in U.S. magazines with a circulation of at least 500,000 published between January 1, 1993, and June 30, 1997.


METHODS
Presence of age-related themes and age of patients with breast cancer who were described in vignettes.


RESULTS
Age-related themes included breast cancer as a cause of premature death, breast cancer in mothers of young children, and the impact of a breast cancer diagnosis on dating and marriage. Factual information about age as a risk factor for breast cancer was presented in only 14% of articles, and age was often included in vignettes describing a woman with breast cancer. Thirty-four percent of the articles included one or more breast cancer vignettes. These articles included 172 unique vignettes in which patient age was described. In 84% of the vignettes (144 of 172), women were diagnosed with breast cancer before 50 years of age; in 47% (80 of 172), women were diagnosed before 40 years of age. On the basis of the age-specific incidence of breast cancer in the United States, the expected percentages would be 16% and 3.6%, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Stories about breast cancer in popular U.S. magazines misrepresent the age distribution of the disease, emphasizing atypical cases of early-onset breast cancer and their social consequences. This presentation of breast cancer may contribute to women's fears of breast cancer and to overestimates of personal risk.
Burke
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W
Department of Medical History and Ethics, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash., USA. wburke@u.washington.edu
Olsen
A H
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Pinsky
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Reynolds
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SE
Press
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NA
D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010506:Periodicals as Topic; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology