This writing project involved thoroughly understanding and properly interpreting a study published in a scientific journal, and relating it to the news articles published about the study. In my case, I chose to read on Dr. Bond's study about how pediatric drugs are affecting the rate of poisoning in children. This assignment was the first time I truly analyzed and interpreted a scientific study. It was so interesting how to see how detailed the study was, yet the news skewed the study and gave the public false information about the study. Now that I have completed this writing piece, I have been very particular in trusting news articles about health news and information. It is best to just read the study that was published in the scientific journal, in order to avoid reading misinterpreted information from news media sources.
News Media Analysis: “The Growing Impact of Pediatric Pharmaceutical Poisoning” and Media’s Interpretation
By Mae Rouhani
The Journal of Pediatrics includes an article, “The Growing Impact of Pediatric Pharmaceutical Poisoning”, that outlines a study conducted by Dr. Randall Bond. The study’s objective is to determine what medications and what circumstances affect the increase in pediatric medication poisoning, morbidity, and resource use in children in the age range of 5 and below (Bond 1). In order to determine what pharmaceutical agent contributed the most to poisoning, patient records during 2001-2008 were viewed from the National Poison System of the American Association of Poison Control Centers (Bond 1). The highest morbidity rate fell amongst children who were self-exposed to prescription pharmaceuticals, which contributed to 95% of the emergency department visits, and these prescription products are mainly, opioids, sedative-hypnotics, and cardiovascular agents (Bond 1). The best way to decrease infant poisoning from pharmaceuticals is by readdressing home storage of medication, repackaging of medication, and improving medication storage devices (Bond 6). The news articles, regarding this issue of pediatric poisoning from pharmaceuticals, misinterpreted important information from Dr. Bond’s study and are not liable sources if the public wants to understand the truth about pediatric pharmaceutical poisoning.
Discover Magazine published an article about the rise of pharmaceutical poisoning in children, but they left out important details and preventative measures. The title of the story was, “Boom in Prescription Drugs Makes its Way To Young Children; Accidental Poisonings Way Up”. This title is making it seem as if young children are accidently poisoned because there is an increase in the manufacturing of prescription drugs. It is true that “access to medication may have also increased” (Bond 5), but the important factor is the decline of “poison-proofing”. People are finding it less convenient to lock up their medications in a cabinet and would rather leave them laying out, especially with medication that is taken on a daily basis. In reality, children are obtaining prescription drugs from household members who have prescriptions or from visits to the emergency department. The increase of prescription drug availability is not a huge factor and did not make sense to belong to the title of the article in Discover. Many broad statistical points were made, but they failed to mention important details, which would have made readers understand the meaning of the numbers. For example, the first paragraph of the article is concluded with “In all, 90 kids died from unintentional overdose or misuse of medications” (Main). This is inaccurate because in the scientific journal 12 of these cases did not occur from ingestion, and 10 of the cases did not even contribute to death (Bond 3). From this article, the public would understand that within an 8-year period, 90 children died from accidental ingestion of prescription drugs. The public would believe that it is due to the increase of prescription drugs. This article does not provide important information for families like, to take proper methods of locking up their medication and to make it difficult for children to access drugs around the household.
In the article, “Number of Children Poisoned by Medication Rising Dramatically, Study Says” by Science Daily, many good points and quotations were directly referenced from Dr. Bond’s journal, but there is also unnecessary information that steered away from the main point. This title is better that the other titles because it not incredibly long and is pretty self-explanatory, but it does not sum up the article. To the public, this title says the article will be about how the rise of medication is causing an increase in the number of children poisonings. The article does not focus on the rise of mediation, but rather the statistics from Dr. Bonds study and the preventative measures that should be taken. The article seemed more trusting because it referred to the study multiple times, and included quotes from Dr. Bonds discussion like, “We need to improve storage devices and child-resistant closures and perhaps require mechanical barriers, such as blister packs. Our efforts can't ignore society's problem with opioid and sedative abuse or misuse." (Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center). The article had strong points but there was some information that could have been left out. It seemed a bit misleading when the article concluded with information about poison control and the PROTECT initiative. This information was off topic, and it broadened the objective of the study rather than focusing on children 5 and below. Somewhere in the middle of the article states, “Dr. Bond studied children 5 years old and younger exposed to a potentially toxic dose of a single pharmaceutical agent”, but it should have been made clear in the beginning of the article what age group correlated to children being affected from pharmaceutical poisoning (Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center). A fact about poisoning amongst people aged 18 and below was given in the last paragraph, “According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than 70,000 emergency visits each year result from unintentional overdoses among children under the age of 18” (Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center). The incline of pediatric poisoning is in reference to children aged 5 and under. It seemed redundant to even mention these unnecessary details. The public would be confused after reading this article, because it is not very clear what age group is being addressed in the conclusion.
ABC News released the article, “Number of Kids Poisoned by Household Medications Up 28 Percent”, which hyped up the idea of medications being a major cause of death amongst children. The title is inaccurately presenting statistical information, because the 28 percent increase in pediatric poisoning amongst children is due to emergency department (ED) use (Bond 2), not household medications. This 28 percent rise in an ED is from the 60 percent in the number presenting directly to an ED (Bond 3). This story seemed a lot to have a lot more emotional appeal in the way it was presented. The story about Dr. Bond’s daughter climbing up towards the cabinet and started to take Sudafed, and quotes like "One 80 milligram oxycodone is enough to kill a child -- he'll stop breathing" (Hutchison) is dramatic. This type of information does not display information that can be used to help in the prevention of pharmaceutical poisoning. Anyone from the public reading this article would have a sense of fear rather than an idea of what the objective of the study was and what he or she can do to prevent their own children from ingesting medication. The article concluded with a section about getting rid of unused meds (Hutchison). What the public gets out of this article is that there is a high chance of children ingestion medication, and that the elimination and minimization of medication would be a good method to decrease that chance.
The titles of these three articles are misleading, over-dramatic, and not very accurate. The information presented in the articles did not include important results and discussion points that were presented in Dr. Bond’s journal, like what percentages of poisoning resulted in injury, admission, ED use, and exposure. Numbers about death rates were not fully explained, which made it seem like the morbidity rate was higher than it actually was. Public interpretation of the rise of pediatric pharmaceutical poisoning based on these articles will create a more fearful view of prescription medication, rather than the causes of poisoning and what preventative measures must be taken. It comes to show that to avoid misleading information about a serious health issue, the best sources would be scientific journals. Although they are lengthy and tedious to read, the information presented is not given to create an emotional appeal to the public. The objective, methods, results, and discussion are presented in a factual manner that allows the public to obtain everything they need to know about the issue. Scientific journals do not leave readers with doubts about the accuracy and credentials of the information and author.
References
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. "Number of children poisoned by medication rising dramatically, study says." ScienceDaily, 16 Sep. 2011. Web. 25 Sep. 2011.
< http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110916092926.htm>
G. Randall Bond, Randall W. Woodward, Mona Ho. The Growing Impact of Pediatric Pharmaceutical Poisoning.The Journal of Pediatrics, 2011; DOI:10.1016/j.jpeds.2011.07.042
Hutchison, Courtney. "Number of Kids Poisoned by Household Medications Up 28 Percent - ABC News." ABCNews.com: Daily News, Breaking News and Video Broadcasts - ABC News. ABC News Medical Unit, 16 Sept. 2011. Web. 25 Sept. 2011. <http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Drugs/number-kids-poisoned-household-medications-28-percent/story?id=14528353>.
Main, Douglas. "Boom in Prescription Drugs Makes Its Way to Young Children; Accidental Poisonings Way Up | 80beats | Discover Magazine." Discover Blog | Discover Magazine. 16 Sept. 2011. Web. 25 Sept. 2011. <http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/09/16/boom-in-prescription-drugs-makes-its-way-to-young-children-accidental-poisonings-way-up/>.