Superlative use within news articles relating to therapies for multiple sclerosis.

BACKGROUND: Superlatives are exaggerative terms that may not accurately portray a treatment's effectiveness, safety, or availability. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of superlatives in news articles describing multiple sclerosis treatments. METHODS: We searched Google News for 11 prespecified superlative terms describing multiple sclerosis therapies in online news articles. RESULTS: We found that news articles commonly describe non-FDA approved multiple sclerosis therapies with superlative terms without providing clinical evidence or attribution. Additionally, no articles were published on a HONcode certified webpage. CONCLUSION: It is important that healthcare professionals are aware of medical misinformation presented to the public.