Echidne offers an important lesson in reading medical studies. One hopes that journalists who specialize in science and medicine can sort out "lesser/different benefit" from "no or adverse effect," but apparently laziness or ignorance can still get in the way. Or blame the headline writers. Anyway, the key lesson is that consumers should rely on the data more than on the meta-analysis, especially as practiced by the journalistic layman.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Or maybe just the opposite
Echidne offers an important lesson in reading medical studies. One hopes that journalists who specialize in science and medicine can sort out "lesser/different benefit" from "no or adverse effect," but apparently laziness or ignorance can still get in the way. Or blame the headline writers. Anyway, the key lesson is that consumers should rely on the data more than on the meta-analysis, especially as practiced by the journalistic layman.
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