Aim:

To describe the most frequent topics on science and technology, medicine and health, and drugs in newspaper articles from 2001-2016 selected for their potential formative interest.

Materials and methods:

Newspaper articles from the CONPRE Oviedo collection were used in this study. The selection criteria are allusive title, identifiable author, articles based on real events, and articles that contain a complete narration. They were grouped in to common themes and a classification was made within each section.

Results:

We selected 1933 newspaper on science and technology, 2001 on medicine and health, and 1960 on drugs. The most frequent topics in science and technology were fundamental and biomedical research, the genome and social aspects of research policy. The most cited diseases were classified to be from categories 1 ('certain infectious and parasitic diseases'), 10 ('diseases of the respiratory system'), and 15 ('pregnancy, childbirth and puerperium') of the ICD-10. Additionally, articles referring to public health were also numerous. The most frequent drugs groups in the newspaper belong to the groups J ('anti-infectives for systemic usé) and G ('genitourinary system and sexual hormones'). A large number of drugs are classified as doping agents, or as narcotics and psychotropic drugs according to RD 2829/1977. Two patterns were observed, one incidental and the other maintained over time.

Conclusion:

The number and diversity of selected news suggests the formative potential of the written press in health sciences students.

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