Objective: To explore how the results from the 2014 dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) trial were disseminated to the scientific community and online media.
Design: A a systematic review of scholarly and public attention surrounding the DAPT study.
Settings: Data were collected from the ISI Web of Knowledge, Google Scholar, PubMed Commons, EurekAlert, the DAPT study website (www.daptstudy.org) and the New England Journal of Medicine website (for scholarly attention) and Altmetric Explorer, Snap Bird, YouTube (for public attention) citing DAPT study results appearing from 16 November 2014 to 10 June 2015.
Participants: No participants were involved in this study.
Main outcome measure: Proportion of contents highlighting the increased risk of mortality and critical to the author's interpretation of the results.
Results: We identified 425 items reported by seven sources; 164 (39%) disseminated the authors' interpretation via an electronic link or a reference, with no additional text. Among 81 items (19 %), the message favoured prolonged treatment and consequently overstated the article conclusions. Among 119 items (28 %), the text was uncertain about the benefit of prolonged treatment but was reported with no or inappropriate mention of increased risk of mortality. Only 34 items (8 %) were uncertain about the benefit of prolonged treatment and mentioned increased risk of mortality. In all, 27 items (6 %) did not favour prolonged treatment, and only 12 of these (3 %) clearly raised some concerns about the reporting of increased risk of death.
Conclusion: Dissemination of the DAPT study results to the scientific community and on different media sources rarely criticised the interpretation of the study results.
Keywords: Dapt therapy; critical opinion; misleading interpretation; mortality; public attention.
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