January is named after the Roman God Janus, the “spirit of the opening” who had two faces, allowing him to look backwards and reflect upon the previous year whilst looking forward into the new one. Fortuitously, this is a perfect depiction of the January top 20 newsletter - taking lessons from last year's charts and looking forward to the jostling of health issues in 2008.

Looking back

To round off 2007 we have created the top 20 December chart. If you would like to view it please click here.

Looking back at the health stories of 2007 it is clear that public health issues as well as diseases that may be affected by our lifestyle choices dominated the health news, leading us to wonder whether 21st Century living is really a step forward or rather two steps back?

In addition to the 'big four' players (heart disease, cancer, nutrition and obesity) in the chart, it was interesting to see the growing media presence of hospital-acquired infections due to a number of outbreaks, and fertility issues with coverage particularly centred around IVF treatment and the emerging trend to have children later in life. Seasonal fluctuation can clearly be seen in topics relating to mental health, such as depression and Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), and in influenza, particularly in the second half of 2007. Whilst one might anticipate coverage around allergies to peak in the summer months, the disease gained constant coverage throughout the year. Are journalists switching to the 'all-year-round' allergy story?

For more insights from health news in 2007, look out for the next Aurora Updates newsletter, to be issued in February.

Looking forward

A new year brings a fresh start and like the athletes training for the Olympic Games in Beijing later this year, we have applied the motto ‘Faster, Higher, Further' to the top 20 methodology, to further refine the categories so that we can gain even more insight into the health topics that move and shake the national press during 2008.

Below we present the January chart which provides the base for 2008:

With New Year resolutions being made - and broken - it's not surprising that coverage about public enemy number one, obesity, poured in and linked with nutrition generated a variety of health stories.

Various papers carried alarming news from the Department of Health that the number of people admitted to hospitals for obesity-related illnesses has risen by 50% in two years, with one in seven patients being under 15. It was also reported that up to 70,000 deaths and costs of £10 billion to the economy could be avoided every year if Britons followed healthy eating guidelines. It emerged in The Observer that, according to an inquiry by the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, the Government's campaign to encourage Britons to eat more fruit and vegetables has not been successful. Perhaps the Unit has influenced programme controllers as our TVs have been awash with healthy eating programmes this month.

The Government plans to tackle poor diets by introducing a ban on junk food aimed at teenagers. But will this halt the obesity crisis in a society where children no longer regard fast food, crisps and sweets as a treat, but see them simply as part of a standard diet, as revealed by a study from the British Heart Foundation?

On the medicine front, a number of stories about new slimming drugs emerged, led by GSK's plans to launch over-the-counter orlistat in 2009 (launched as Alli in the US in mid-2007). The drug has proven to help people lose 50% more weight than with diet and exercise alone by preventing the body from absorbing some consumed fat. Further news detailed Novo Nordisk's trial for new obesity drug, liraglutide, and Alizyme's cetilistat.

While much news focused on the Government's attempts to halt the country's obesity crisis, The Daily Mail claimed that the number of patients needing hospital treatment for eating disorders has soared. Could the average Joe with a normal size waist and a natural attitude to food be in danger of extinction? 

One of the new categories in the chart, exercise, leapt straight to fourth position. Coinciding with the start of the New Year, the Food Standards Agency, the Government's food watchdog, advised the public to take up exercise and drink plenty of water instead of following any detox diet. The Prime Minister outlined a new direction for NHS care by saying that people will have to assume new responsibilities, such as exercising and losing weight, to be entitled for treatment on the NHS.

Norovirus made an explosive entrance into seventh position following coverage that Britain had been hit by an epidemic of the winter sickness virus and the apparent economic impact of one in eight of the workforce being ‘bed-ridden'. It is estimated that staff illness led to financial losses of £80 million in the first two days of the virus outbreak. Yet by the end of the month, the Health Protection Agency announced that norovirus infection rates were on average no higher than in previous years.

Media coverage around the subject of organ transplant/donation was high in the month of January due to revolutionary calls by Sir Liam Donaldson, England's Chief Medical Officer, to introduce a new organ donation policy. As concerns grow over the acute shortage of donors and the rise of unnecessary deaths, headlines reported of a planned move to allow hospitals to take organs without explicit consent unless individuals have opted out of the national register. While clearly a controversial approach and challenging at an ethical level, it is estimated that an additional 1,200 transplants could take place each year.

And finally, Aurora MD, Neil, was delighted to learn from a study reported in The Daily Mail and the Sunday Telegraph that standing up and ‘pottering' around the office may be just as, if not more, important than strenuous exercise in keeping healthy. As a confirmed phone pacer, regularly making the office dizzy, he at least now has a better excuse than “that's why they call it a mobile phone!”

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Aurora strives to apply quantitative, qualitative and emotional understanding of health issues to client communication programmes. Dove-tailing informed PR activity with the media's appetite enables us to assist clients with communicating their vision.

To find out more, contact Neil Crump or Claire Eldridge on 020 7424 7940. 

The top 20 chart provides our interpretative snap-shot of health stories in the national press and is based upon a quantitative process. Analysis based on news from the 26 December 2007 to 25 January 2008.

© Aurora 2008

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