Table 3 Frequency of ‘Alcohol’ (or alcohol subtypes), ‘cancer’ (or cancer subtypes), and descriptors of amount of alcohol mentioned in articles claiming a link between alcohol and cancer
From: An examination of Australian newspaper coverage of the link between alcohol and cancer 2005 to 2013
|
CANCER and ALCOHOL (causes / does not cause Cancer) with subtype1
n = articles with exclusive mention of type / n = total articles mentioning type; % of totals within causative or non-causative articles for cancers only | ||||
|
21/93 Alcohol >1 time |
Causative articles (n = 1425) |
Alcohol (1301/1406) Beer (9/48) Wine (30/78) Red (23/23) White/Riesling (7/7) |
Mouthwash (29/29) Spirits (4/33) Whisky (5/5) Vodka (4/4) High-energy alcohol (2/2) | |
|
Non-causative articles (n = 93) |
Alcohol (47/24) Wine (45/7) Red (38/37) White (5/0) |
Beer (12/18) Strawberry Daiquiri (9/9) Whisky (1/6) Vodka (1/6) | ||
| Cancers | Cancer only (472) | |||
| Causative articles |
Breast (241/569) 40% Bowel (60/330) 23%2 Head & neck (89/309) 22%3 |
Liver (18/152) Prostate (12/116) Lung (4/116) |
Skin or melanoma (2/89) Pancreatic (4/37) Cervix (2/52) | |
| Cancer only (52) | ||||
| Non-causative articles |
Bowel (3/13) 14%2
Breast (3/11) 12% Head & neck (0/6) 6%3 |
Prostate (11/14) Liver (0/2) Lung (1/5) |
Skin or melanoma (0/1) Pancreatic (0/1) Cervix (0/3) | |
|
ALCOHOL DESCRIPTORS with examples4
n = total mentioned / n = % within causative or non-causative articles | ||||
| Alcohol link with cancer |
Causative None in article: n = 531 (37%) |
Non-specific (892/63%) (Consumption, alcohol intake, any amount, drink, use, consuming) Specific ≤2 drinks (28/2%) (small glass, 1.5 drinks daily, two drinks daily, one beer) Specific >2 drinks (57/4%) (more than 2 drinks, above 2 standard drinks, at least 3 drinks a day) |
General low-moderate (42/3%) (little, modest, tipple) General heavy (240/17%) (too much, a bit of excess, more, exceeding, frequent, sustained) Problem labels (98/7%) (long heavy, excessive, alcoholism, dependency, chronic, abuse, binge, harmful) Other (20/1%) (mouthwash, rising, habits) | |
|
Non-causative None: n = 11 (12%) |
Non-specific (55/\59%)
(consumption, drink, preventative) Specific ≤2 drinks (12/13%) (two glasses of alcohol a day, one serving per week) |
General low-moderate (8/9%)
(moderate, light to moderate, light) General heavy (6/6%) (heavier, high, too much) Problem labels (1/<1%) (excessive) | ||