The following is a guest post by Harold DeMonaco, MS, a member of our editorial team, and Director of the Innovation Support Center at the Massachusetts General Hospital. A graduate of the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences he holds a bachelors degree in pharmacy and a masters degree in therapeutics. He has [...]
Don’t miss Gil Welch’s editorial in the New York Times, “If You Feel O.K., Maybe You Are O.K.” Excerpt: Screening the apparently healthy potentially saves a few lives (although the National Cancer Institute couldn’t find any evidence for this in its recent large studies of prostate and ovarian cancer screening). But it definitely drags many [...]
Trine Tsouderos of the Chicago Tribune published a noteworthy story, “Remote-control surgery grows, despite inconclusive evidence.“ Excerpts: Intuitive Surgical is a medical sensation, transforming surgery in some fields, especially gynecology and urology, in about a decade. More than 250,000 hysterectomies and prostate removal surgeries were done with the da Vinci last year, according to the [...]
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is holding a meeting in Washington today to get feedback on its draft National Priorities for Research and Initial Research Agenda (pdf file). Background on PCORI – if you’re not up on it – from their website: The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) was created to conduct research to [...]
A spin around the Web today will give you many stories about citrus fruits and women’s stroke risk. Citrus Fruits May Lower Women’s Stroke Risk – WebMD But in the body of the story there’s not a word about the limitations of such an observational study. Only this quote: “Our study supports the conclusion that [...]
A couple of studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) don’t present as clearcut a picture of colon cancer screening evidence as some stories might suggest. One study pointed to benefits of colonoscopy screening. Another described potential benefits of a form of blood stool testing called Fecal Immunochemical Testing (FIT). An editorial [...]
The following is a cross-post of a piece originally published on the Reporting on Health site by William Heisel, who is one of our story reviewers on HealthNewsReview.org. ———————————————————————————————————- Academic journals often have authoritative names: Cardiology, Neurology, Pediatrics. Not to be outdone by the bold founders of the origins-of-everything journal Cell, a group of academics [...]
Two smart bloggers I follow both wrote recently about scare tactics that bothered them in different ad campaigns. Marilyn Mann wrote, “Heart & Stroke Foundation ‘make death wait’ campaign: effective advocacy or unnecessary scare tactics?” She posted a TV ad, but also this print ad at left, and wrote: “…the print ad… has appeared in a [...]
On the USA Today website, Liz Szabo interviews cardiology experts Marc Gillinov and Steven Nissen of the Cleveland Clinic, authors of the new book, Heart 411: The Only Guide to Heart Health You’ll Ever Need. In the piece, Gillinov and Nissen say: We suggest avoiding these tests: •Heart calcium scans. These tests expose patients to [...]
I was pleased to be asked to be the guest on the #BCSM (Breast Cancer & Social Media) twitter chat last night (Monday, Feb. 20). This is a community that meets online every Monday night at 9 pm Eastern, 8 pm Central, 6 pm Pacific time. One of the hosts, and chat co-founders, Jody Schoger, [...]
This online piece – and the slickly produced video within it – were apparently done for CNN International and a segment called “Make, Create, Innovate.” We suggest, instead, an approach that would discuss “Data, Evidence, Costs” and more.
Aided by caveats in a concluding quote from an independent expert, this story was appropriately cautious about the value of an experimental approach for children at risk of autism. But it should have warned readers that the findings were not statistically significant. We offer training to help journalists make these judgments.
Meeting most of our criteria for quality health journalism, this solid Wall Street Journal “Aches and Claims” column helps readers sort out research on a potential cholesterol-lowing supplement.
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