Putting the update at the top: hours after posting this, I’ve now been told there are, indeed, anal testosterone suppositories. Thanks to Leonore Tiefer for this tip: The newest “female sexual dysfunction drug” hitting the PR waves is a nasal testosterone gel in clinical trials in the US, Canada and Australia. The Dinah Project website [...]
On Twitter, that’s how Alan Cassels – drug policy researcher at the University of Victoria, British Columbia – referred to the Wall Street Journal’s reporting in this column, “Emerging Type of Heartburn Defies Drugs, Diagnosis.” And I see what he means. First, the column sets you up with the numbers game: Some 44% of Americans [...]
Strolling through the Google News Health section can be an exercise in disease-mongering. Harold DeMonaco, one of our story reviewers, ran across a story that he thought read more like it was written for the Onion rather than NBCNews.com. Here are his thoughts. ————————————————————— I suspect that most of us have fallen victim to “Pizza [...]
Oh, this is a classic. My favorite line: “The numbers don’t lie….or explain anything about what they mean!” The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Cheating Death – Low T www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive
The PharmaWatch Canada blog published an article, “Manufacturing Diabetes,” about the increasing focus on pre-diabetes: “Canadians are being bombarded with dire warnings about the skyrocketing number of people with diabetes – an “economic tsunami” according to the pharma-friendly Canadian Diabetes Association. … The diagnosis of pre-diabetes is bad news for patients and their families, most [...]
The Associated Press reported this week on the marketing of a new line of menopause products – “a line of products that target 50 million American women who are or will soon go through menopause. Priced between $3.99 and $7.99, the line includes lubricant for vaginal dryness, panty freshener stickers and feminine wash for odor [...]
William Heisel, one of our ace story reviewers on HealthNewsReview.org, has published three pieces on disease-mongering on the Reporting on Health site. Does Baldness Really Need a Cure? Steer Clear of Disease-Mongering Quicksand Avoid Extremes to Avoid Disease Mongering
Ivan Oransky, executive editor of Reuters Health, delivered a clever TEDMED 2012 talk on pre-disease states. He’s blogged a bit about it, and TEDMED just posted a video of the talk on YouTube.
Two articles in the current Medical Journal of Australia point to disease-mongering of low testosterone. David Handelsman, PhD, of the University of Sydney, reports that there has been at least a twofold increase in total expenditure on testosterone prescriptions in Australia over two decades. Barbara Mintzes, PhD, of the University of British Columbia, and Agnes [...]
“Preventing overdiagnosis: how to stop harming the healthy,” is a feature in this week’s BMJ by Ray Moynihan, Jenny Doust and David Henry. I won’t try to recapture the entire piece in this blog because you should read it yourself. But here are section headings: Screening detected overdiagnosis Increasingly sensitive tests Incidentalomas Excessively widened definitions [...]
This story focuses on a family that may have a rare genetic mutation that increases their risk of heart disease. Unfortunately, the “rare” part wasn’t mentioned until 1,600 words into this 2,100 word story.
While this story adequately addressed 7 of our 10 criteria, the 3 on which it missed were significant omissions, yet could have been easily addressed.
Solid medical conference reporting, with many expert interviews and good context provided. Goes far beyond the conference presentation itself.
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