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The Swine Flu Emergency Department: The Relationship Between Media Attention for the Swine Flu and Registrations in an Emergency Medicine Unit

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 March 2014

Sara Nelissen ,
Kathleen Beullens ,
Marc Sabbe  and
Jan Van den Bulck
Sara Nelissen*
Affiliation:
University of Leuven, School for Mass Communication Research, Leuven, Belgium
Kathleen Beullens
Affiliation:
University of Leuven, School for Mass Communication Research, Leuven, Belgium
Marc Sabbe
Affiliation:
University of Leuven, University Hospitals, Emergency Medicine, Leuven, Belgium
Jan Van den Bulck
Affiliation:
University of Leuven, School for Mass Communication Research, Leuven, Belgium
*
Correspondence: Sara Nelissen, MA School for Mass Communication Research University of Leuven Parkstraat 45, PO Box 3603 3000 Leuven, Belgium E-mail Sara.Nelissen@soc.kuleuven.be
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Abstract

Introduction

When the world is faced with a new potential pandemic outbreak, the media report heavily about it. Media are an important disseminator of health threat information. This study examined potential media effects during the 2009 outbreak of A/H1N1 influenza.

Hypothesis

To examine the relationship between media reports of the swine flu and self-registrations in an emergency department (ED) of a tertiary hospital in Flanders, Belgium.

Methods

All articles concerning swine flu published in seven Flemish newspapers were selected during the biggest flu peak in Belgium. This number was compared with the number of patients who presented themselves with a self-diagnosis of swine flu symptoms during the same time frame. The Pearson's correlation coefficient was selected to determine the relationship. The cross-correlation function determined the direction of this relationship.

Results

A strong correlation was found between the number of potential patients (n = 308) and the number of articles in the Flemish press (n = 1657). The number of patients was the leading indicator; increases in the volume of written press followed increases in the number of patients.

Conclusion

Media reporting is extensive when a new infectious disease breaks out and intensifies when it is feared that pandemic levels are reached. This was also the case with the swine flu outbreak in Flanders. These findings suggest that a rise in the number of media reports follows a rise in the number of cases, rather than the reverse.

NelissenS, BeullensK, SabbeM, Van den BulckJ. The Swine Flu Emergency Department: The Relationship Between Media Attention for the Swine Flu and Registrations in an Emergency Medicine Unit. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2014;29(2):1-5.

Keywords

fearinfluenza A virusmedianewspandemic
Type
Original Research
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , April 2014 , pp. 141 - 145
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2014 

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