Thank God for hospital chaplains – and special thanks for those who are also smart bloggers.
See this chaplain’s blog (here and here) for how he evaluated a CNN/Health.com story, “Cholesterol jumps with menopause.”
The story included this line:
“A new study shows beyond a doubt that menopause, not the natural aging process, is responsible for a sharp increase in cholesterol levels.”
The chaplain wrote:
“So, just when, we asked one another, did menopause cease to be part of the natural aging process for all women? … In fact they determined that for several measures of cholesterol, menopause was more predictive than age, while for other risk factors age was more predictive. However, in neither case was there any implication that menopause wasn’t “natural;” only that in the natural course of things different women experienced it at different ages.”
Chaplain, pray for us that we can all learn to scrutinize health care news as well as you do.
Opinions on other issues in news, journals, PR, advertising, marketing
Following a shift in journalism’s business model, a diverse ecosystem of publications, many covering science, has sprung up online. This has made it more difficult to sort out what qualifies as journalism, what doesn’t, and whether the public even cares.
https://t.co/qO2a27FiSe
Researchers and journalists do the public a grave disservice when they spin health study results to make them appear safer or more effective than warranted, says @HealthNewsRevu founder @garyschwitzer https://t.co/QIKsRbP6Ed
Comments
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Sarah G
December 18, 2009 at 3:26 pmThat was a great catch on his part!
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