Causal language and strength of inference in academic and media articles shared in social media (CLAIMS): A systematic review.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:The pathway from evidence generation to consumption contains many steps which can lead to overstatement or misinformation. The proliferation of internet-based health news may encourage selection of media and academic research articles that overstate strength of causal inference. We investigated the state of causal inference in health research as it appears at the end of the pathway, at the point of social media consumption. METHODS:We screened the NewsWhip Insights database for the most shared media articles on Facebook and Twitter reporting about peer-reviewed academic studies associating an exposure with a health outcome in 2015, extracting the 50 most-shared academic articles and media articles covering them. We designed and utilized a review tool to systematically assess and

SUBMITTER: Haber N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5976147 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature