| Heart disease is the leading cause of death within the United States among most populations; however, prior research suggests that the media may present heart disease as primarily affecting White, middle-aged men. The prevalence of heart-related messages and the demographic characteristics of individuals portrayed with heart disease were examined in health messages viewed during primetime television. Two researchers independently coded 163 hours of television. All health messages were coded by type of programming (e.g. advertisement, sitcom), subject (e.g. drugs, fitness), and whether it was a heart-related or non-heart-related health message. In the heart-related health messages, individuals portrayed with heart disease were coded by gender, age group, and race. The analyses indicated that women and minorities were vastly underrepresented. This finding suggests that women and minorities may be subject to non-representative patient models in daily television programming, possibly leading to the development of inaccurate perceptions of personal risk for heart disease. |
