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 | Â | 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) | |
| Â | 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) | ||