Credit: Original article published here.
“Gout is a chronic disease that can be effectively managed with long-term urate-lowering therapy. However, it is frequently portrayed on screen as an acute disease caused by a poor diet that should be managed with lifestyle change,” authors of a recent study published in Arthritis Care & Research wrote. Therefore, researchers investigated the impact of a fictional television depiction of gout on perceptions of the disease and its management.
The randomized, controlled, single-blind trial involved 200 members of the public who watched a 19-minute commercial television comedy episode that depicted gout as an acute disease caused by poor diet and managed through lifestyle change, or a control episode from the same television series that did not mention gout or other diseases. Participants then completed a survey about their perceptions of gout, its likely causes, and management strategies.
The results of the study showed that participants who watched the gout episode had a greater perception of the consequences of gout compared with the control group. They were also more likely to believe that poor eating habits were the most important cause of gout. Participants watching the gout episode believed that a change in diet would be a more effective management strategy and that long-term medication would be less effective compared with the control group.
The study highlighted the impact of media portrayal of diseases on public perceptions and the potential consequences of inaccurate depictions of chronic diseases such as gout. “Television depictions of gout can perpetuate inaccurate beliefs about causes of the disease and underemphasize effective medical strategies required for chronic disease management,” the authors of the study concluded.
Source: Arthritis Care & Research
