The way in which patients communicate with their physician and other medical professionals may be more strongly related to educational background than any influence that the media might have.

That is one of the conclusions from a study of Italian media reports that promoted the unproven cancer therapy known as Di Bella Multitherapy, a mixture of drugs and vitamin supplements developed by physiologist Dr. Luigi Di Bella.

The therapy came to international attention in the late 1990s, when a number of Dr. Luigi Di Bella's patients organized and demanded that hospitals provide the regimen free of charge. For a few months, according to one group of observers, the Italian media reported on "miraculously cured patients" and presented Di Bella as a victim of persecution by organized medicine.

But two reports published last year in the journal Cancer showed that its use actually reduces the cancer survival rate.

In the new study, Dr. Caterina Caminiti of the University Hospital, in Parma, Italy, and colleagues, surveyed 2600 unselected cancer patients attending 13 cancer centers throughout Italy. One survey was conducted in March 1997, at the peak of the media attention, and a second 1 month after the publication of research showing that the Di Bella Multitherapy did not show any valid therapeutic effects.

Experts who reviewed the data found that the increases in patients' hopefulness at the peak of the media attention, and the decreases in optimism reflected in the second survey, were strongly related to educational level. Caminiti reported the results at the 25th congress of the European Society of Medical Oncology.

The researchers showed that more highly educated people were better equipped to balance apparently conflicting information. At the same time, these patients could better discuss misinformation with their physician and become more involved in the decision-making process.

"Our research has shown just how powerful a role the media can play in affecting patients' attitudes towards their illness," said Caminiti. "But instead of dwelling on the potentially negative effects of promoting an untested treatment such as the Di Bella Multitherapy or other misinformation, what we should be focusing on is the potential of the media in a positive way. This is particularly important in less well-educated patients, for whom the media could be used as an empowering tool to help them cope with their health problems and help them deal with medical professionals."

Based on the reported findings, Caminiti believes that physicians should "increase patients' empowerment with better information and improve the capacity of doctors and nurses to communicate with their patients."

(From Reuters Health)