Severely flawed story. Includes simply unbelievable claims from a conflicted source, who is allowed to make non-evidence-backed promotions of various screening approaches.
There’s a big change coming for pregnant women: Down syndrome testing no longer hinges on whether they’re older or younger than 35.
Two widely used tests for prostate cancer failed to save lives in a new study, adding to the debate over whether men should be screened for the disease. The study was small — only 1,002 men — and will not be the final word on the issue. But it may hint at what lies ahead when the results of two large studies of prostate cancer screening appear in a few years. The researchers looked at two screening tests that are performed millions of times a year in the United States: a blood test that measures prostate specific antigen, or PSA, and a digital rectal exam, the rubber-glove test in which a doctor feels for abnormalities in the prostate through the rectal wall.
Three simple tests that can potentially save thousands of lives from strokes, aneurysms or other arterial problems are getting a big endorsement today.
Better than HealthDay’s story and TIME.com’s story because it at least took a stab at independent analysis of the evidence.
A uniform, national panel of newborn screening tests could not only save lives but also save money, two doctors in the Indiana University School of Medicine found in a newly published study.
Too little time spent on the weaknesses of a statistical modeling study. Independent expert analysis would have helped.
The meat of the story was well done, making up for the headline, lead sentence and concluding section that were a bit raw around the edges.
Prenatal screening for Down syndrome and other birth defects has for decades been an anxious rite of passage for many pregnant women. For many, especially those over 35, the joy of finding out they are pregnant is tempered by weeks of anxiety as they await the fourth month of their pregnancy for the tests to be done.
Not anymore. For the first time since such prenatal chromosome screening was introduced in 1990, women of any age can choose to have screening tests done 11 to 13 weeks into their pregnancy. Not only does that cut down on the waiting time, but the newer tests are better than the older ones at predicting the likelihood that a fetus has some of the most common and serious chromosomal abnormalities.
Testing smokers for lung cancer detects curable early-stage tumors, according to a new study. But the overall benefit remains unclear.
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