1. Objectifs

Intentions :
The authors objectives were «[t]o determine whether a sharp increase in Emergency Room (ER) visits at the Montreal Children’s Hospital (MCH) during the week following the death of Natasha Richardson from a skiing-related head injury was a) statistically significant and b) related to media coverage of the event. We postulated that there would be less coverage in the French media and in centres west of Quebec.» (p. 115)

Questions/Hypothèses :
The authors «[...] postulated that the media interest in this event was responsible for the large increase in ER visits to the Montreal Children’s Hospital (MCH) during the following week. [...] A second hypothesis was that because the celebrity in this case appeared predominantly on English stage and screen, this would prompt more coverage by English than French media and thus result in a smaller increase in ER visits at the French children’s hospital in Montreal than at the MCH. [Their] final hypothesis was that the media’s interest would diminish with distance from Quebec, yielding less noteworthy increases in ER attendances at children’s hospitals in other provinces.» (p. 115)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
The authors «[...] used current data from the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (CHIRPP).» (p. 115)

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

«The mass media may have both positive and negative effects on health and health care delivery. » (p. 115) In this study, the authors «[...]found a 60% increase in injury visits to the MCH ER compared to the baseline week (p<0.001) and a 66% difference when compared with the 16-year average. HSJ also recorded a sharp increase during the study week but the rise did not persist. Smaller increases were recorded in the more western children’s hospitals. At the MCH nearly half of the visits were for head injuries, but there was no change in the number judged to be severe. [...] These data suggest that the media coverage of this celebrity death may have generated anxiety among parents, prompting those who might not otherwise have sought medical care to bring their children to the ER.» (p. 115)