Clinical trial NCT03094078: Interpretation of Health News Items Reporting Results of Pre-clinical Studies With or Without Spin by English-speaking Patients
Official title: Interpretation of Health News Items Reporting Results of Pre-clinical Studies With or Without Spin: A Randomized Controlled Trial Among English-speaking Patients
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: The Study Focus on no Specific Condition
Keywords: Spin
Misleading reporting
Misleading interpretation
Misleading extrapolation
Animal studies
Cell culture studies
Pre-clinical studies
Lead sponsor: Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2017-03-29
Enrollment: 300
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: Two arms, parallel group, randomized controlled trial
Primary purpose: OTHER

Brief summary: The main objective of this study is to compare the interpretation of health news items reporting results of pre-clinical studies with or without spin (i.e., distortion of research results). The news items which reported those studies evaluating the treatment effect either in cell culture studies or animal studies, have high number of spin in the headline and text and received high online public attention will be selected. Spin will be deleted and will rewrite the news items without spin. This sample of news items reporting results of pre-clinical studies with and without spin will be interpreted by English-speaking patients.

Detailed description: Health news is an important way to communicate updated medical research to the public. News items reporting the results of medical research attract a large audience. However, the quality of reporting in health news is questionable. The merits of a wide range of treatments and tests are overplayed and harms are underplayed. Several studies have shown the presence of spin (i.e., distorted presentation of study results) in health news. Distorted facts can be misleading and can affect the behaviour of physicians, healthcare providers and patients. However, little research has assessed whether spin can affect readers' interpretation of health news items.

Objective: "Spin" is defined as a misrepresentation of study results whatever the motive (intentionally or unintentionally) to highlight that the beneficial effect of the intervention in terms of efficacy and safety is greater than that shown by the results. To compare the interpretation of health news items reported with or without spin. News items reporting pre-clinical studies evaluating the effect of a pharmacological treatment that received high online public attention will be focused.

Hypothesis: The hypothesis of this study is that the spin can influence the reader's interpretation of health news items reporting results of pre-clinical studies.

Design: A randomized controlled trial

1. Interventions: Health news items reporting results of pre-clinical studies with and without spin will be compared. A sample of health news items reporting the results of pre-clinical studies evaluating the effect of pharmacologic treatment and containing spin in the headline and text will be selected. Spin will be deleted in the selected news items and will be rewritten the news without spin.
2. Participants: The participants will include English-speaking patients from an online patient community.
3. Sample size: For this RCT, the sample size will be 300 patients.
4. The primary outcome will be perception of beneficial effect of the treatment X. We will ask participants, what do you think is the probability that treatment X would be beneficial to patients? (scale, 0 \[very unlikely\] to 10 \[very likely\]).
5. Expected results: This study will evaluate the impact of spin on the interpretation of news items reporting results of pre-clinical studies by English-speaking patients.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Native English speakers or have very good level in reading and understanding of English language
* Have at least one chronic disease

Exclusion Criteria:

-

Primary outcomes:
measure: Perception of beneficial effect of the treatment X
timeFrame: As the intervention is assigned (reading the news item) i.e., 1-2 hours
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Perception of efficacy, safety, availability and clinical utility of the treatment X in existing clinical practice
timeFrame: As the intervention is assigned (reading the news item) i.e., 1-2 hours
measure: How safe do you think that treatment X would be for patients?
timeFrame: As the intervention is assigned (reading the news item) i.e., 1-2 hours
measure: Do you think this treatment should be offered to patients in the short term?
timeFrame: As the intervention is assigned (reading the news item) i.e., 1-2 hours
measure: Do you think this treatment will make a difference in the existing clinical practice?
timeFrame: As the intervention is assigned (reading the news item) i.e., 1-2 hours
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Paris
country: France
facility: Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris
state: Ile-de-france
Study officials:
References:
citation: Boutron I, Haneef R, Yavchitz A, Baron G, Novack J, Oransky I, Schwitzer G, Ravaud P. Three randomized controlled trials evaluating the impact of "spin" in health news stories reporting studies of pharmacologic treatments on patients'/caregivers' interpretation of treatment benefit. BMC Med. 2019 Jun 4;17(1):105. doi: 10.1186/s12916-019-1330-9.