Search Results for "Sprint"
Intensive blood pressure control and ‘dementia’: another mad rush to report incomplete SPRINT findings
After 12 years in which we’ve published more than 2,500 news story reviews, we’ve found that reports out of medical meetings are among the most superficial and imbalanced journalism that we evaluate. Study abstracts presented at these meetings are often pitched as urgent or a ‘breakthrough’, when actually they’re usually preliminary and yet to be […]
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Informed patients need one thing not provided in SPRINT trial news: what were the absolute benefit/harm numbers?
On November 9th, the New England Journal of Medicine published SPRINT (Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial) comparing “intensive” blood pressure lowering (targeting <120 mm HG systolic) against standard therapy, (<140 mm HG) and came to pretty definitive conclusions: “SPRINT now provides evidence of benefits for an even lower systolic blood-pressure target than that currently recommended […]
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Do published SPRINT study results live up to premature NIH news release hype?
After the NIH announced preliminary findings from the much anticipated SPRINT (Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial) study on managing hypertension in September it received some criticism from the medical community and health journalists for its failure to provide key details about the research. Missing were the evidence, data and the names of the drugs that were […]
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NIH SPRINT study sparks questions about overtreatment of mild hypertension
Last week the National Institutes of Health (NIH) took the unusual step of announcing the early conclusion of a “landmark” study on managing hypertension. What makes it unusual is that when the NIH made the bold announcement that intensive intervention with a combo of three drugs to reach a new target systolic blood pressure of […]
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NIH, news media, need to slow down on the SPRINT hype
This post has been updated with additional expert commentary on the SPRINT trial and the NIH’s announcement regarding the results (scroll to the bottom). The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today made an announcement about the SPRINT (Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial) study that is making big waves across the world of health care. Landmark […]
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Too Much Medicine: A small medical conference with a big impact
The Too Much Medicine (TMM) conference is small, but has a potentially huge impact. We cover plenty of medical conferences about heart disease, cancer, and dementia (to name a few) that trigger tsunamis of media coverage because they –quite obviously and understandably — affect millions of people and involve grave outcomes. But the TMM conference, wrapping […]
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New blood pressure guidelines are promoted with scars and scare tactics
The American Heart Association (AHA) has faced criticism for issuing new, more aggressive guidelines that lower the threshold for high blood pressure and set lower treatment targets for millions of Americans. (We’ve written extensively about those guidelines and the SPRINT study that formed the basis for them.) Now the AHA is facing renewed criticism for […]
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New blood pressure guidelines: supporters get coverage, critics don’t. Why?
Last month the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) released new guidelines advising that high blood pressure (‘hypertension’) be defined at 130/80 millimeters of mercury, instead of the previously widely accepted (and higher) threshold of 140/90. The response from news organizations was massive. Last week, when the American Academy of Family […]
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A prostate ‘Pep Talk’ is the wrong way to get men thinking about cancer screening
With September’s Prostate Cancer Awareness Month in full swing, an industry-affiliated partnership has turned to high-profile former NFL coaches to deliver its prostate cancer screening message. It’s a clever choice: professional coaches are good at getting men to do all kinds of things they might not otherwise want to do, whether it’s extra wind sprints […]
Tainted at the source: Misleading PR claims that flow downstream to health news consumers
Why do we review news releases? Because the exaggerated claims sometimes made in these public relations documents can get passed along–with little independent analysis or scrutiny–to unsuspecting news consumers who may think they’re reading carefully vetted journalism. Here are two fresh examples that demonstrate how this happens and why it’s a problem. In both […]
Informative release on managing ‘prehypertension’ should’ve toned down the headline
Aside from an overreaching headline and sub-headline, the news release delivers essential information including costs, harms, availability, and study limitations.
Personalized treatment for those in blood pressure 'gray zone'
Just for journalists: Tips and case studies for writing about health care
Writing about health care is complex and nuanced. On this page for journalists, we offer 1) primers for writing about complex medical topics, 2) advice for common pitfalls healthcare journalists face, and 3) in-depth case studies on how we cracked open several important medical stories in recent years. Another page–tips for analyzing studies & health care claims–also has primers […]
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Reason number 1,001 to slow down when reporting on breaking health news
Kevin Lomangino is the managing editor of HealthNewsReview.org. He tweets as @Klomangino. We often plead for journalists and public relations people to slow down when reporting on breaking new research that makes big claims about health benefits. Whether that news is coming from a company announcement or a scientific meeting, chances are good that the […]
Once again, NIH release on blood pressure targets lacks info on absolute benefits, potential harms
This quick summary of results from a large study missed an opportunity to help clarify the best way to manage high blood pressure in the elderly.
NIH study confirms benefits of intensive blood pressure management among seniors aged 75 and older
The Cochrane Collaboration might be “Medicine’s Best Kept Secret” (but it shouldn’t be for journalists)
Just last month, after nearly three years of investigation, I published a book on a 22-year-old organization called the Cochrane Collaboration. The book’s subtitle, “Medicine’s Best Kept Secret,” was meant to be a little playful – as if one of the world’s largest organizations putting together systematic reviews of evidence around health care interventions could be a […]
