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Search Results for "simple test"

6 2/27/2015

A simple test proven to predict how long you’ll live? Gannett gaffe

A veteran health care journalist sent me the following story and wrote, “So irresponsible, bad enough on local (TV) news, but it ends up on USA Today? I hope you can skewer it.” “How long will you live? Try the Sitting Rising Test,” was the headline on USA Today’s website as they posted a TV […]

sensitivity specificity
6/5/2014

Words of caution about “simple tests could save lives and money” story

A reader in California asked that we review and comment on a story by Healthline seen on Yahoo Health news: “Simple Tests for Heart Attack Risk Could Save Lives and Money.” Whenever you hear or see the phrase “simple tests,” you should head for the hills because there’s nothing simple or uncomplicated about most health […]

April 7, 2010 | Story Review

Simple Test May Spot Early Lung Cancer

This was the weakest of the three stories we reviewed on this same study (the others done by AP and Reuters).  Read more to find out why.

2 Star
HealthDay

Simple Test May Spot Early Lung Cancer

11/7/2019

Theranos redux? Not really. But claim of a ‘simple’ test for breast cancer warrants scrutiny

Once again the lure of a “simple” test has made headlines. This time the catalyst was a news release issued by the UK’s National Cancer Research Institute. Its title: “Simple blood test for early detection of breast cancer.” In fact, no such test exists. As the body of the PR news release acknowledged, it’s an […]

6/6/2018

Questions about a ‘simple blood test’ to screen for cancer prompt revealing answer: It’s complicated

We often tell our readers to run for the hills whenever they see a news story touting a “simple blood test.” You won’t find a better example of why you need to be wary than an exchange between a reporter and a researcher at a news conference at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual […]

November 27, 2017 | News Release Review

Loyola U makes data-free claim that a ‘simple’ heart test can distinguish between major depression and bipolar disorder

A “simple electrocardiogram” can help diagnose major depression or bipolar disorder, a Loyola Medicine news release claims, but where are the data to support this “groundbreaking” study?

1 Star
Loyola Medicine

Simple Electrocardiogram Can Determine Whether a Patient Has Major Depression or Bipolar Disorder, Study Finds

March 7, 2017 | News Release Review

Lung cancer test based on “a simple blood draw”? There’s no such thing

The release employs mostly cautious language but it comes up short in filling readers in on costs, benefits and quality of evidence.

3 Star
Exact Sciences Corp

Exact Sciences and Mayo Clinic study shows promise of new blood-based lung cancer test

March 31, 2016 | News Release Review 1

Another ‘simple blood test’ for concussion PR release over-promises

Contrary to the release headline, there’s no such thing as a “simple blood test” for brain injury.

3 Star
Orlando Health

Study: Simple blood test can detect evidence of concussions up to a week after injury

January 21, 2016 | News Release Review

“Simple” diagnostic tests are never as simple as presented in PR news releases

Will a paper diagnostic test under development change the diagnostic tools landscape? By not mentioning alternatives (both new and conventional) this release fails to make its case.

2 Star
McMaster University

Researchers Develop Simple Paper Test That Quickly Diagnoses Illnesses by Changing Colour

November 11, 2015 | News Release Review

Blood test to detect concussions in kids anything but “simple”

Whenever you hear about a ‘simple blood test’ run for the hills cuz there ain’t no such thing.

2 Star
Orlando Health

Concussions in kids are detectable by blood test

May 21, 2015 | News Release Review 1

Exploding a prominent medical center’s claims of a “simple” and “definitive” test for irritable bowel syndrome

There are two sides to every story, and this news release gives only one of them. The rosy description provided belies some big questions about how useful this test really is.

2 Star
CEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER

Definitive tests for irritable bowel syndrome developed at Cedars-Sinai: New blood tests will speed up diagnosis for the most common GI disorder

March 23, 2015 | Story Review 1

A Simple 3-Part Test May Predict Alzheimer’s

This story reports on the results of a study entitled, “Predicting the Risk of Mild Cognitive Impairment in the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging.”  In doing so, it confuses mild cognitive impairment with Alzheimer’s disease, never noting the difference between the two conditions.

3 Star
TIME

A Simple 3-Part Test May Predict Alzheimer’s

March 13, 2015 | Story Review

A Simple Flashcard Test to Detect Concussions

This is an interesting, readable account of a new study on a hot topic. But identifying concussions with this new test isn’t quite as simple as the story suggests.

3 Star
The New York Times

A Simple Flashcard Test to Detect Concussions

3/11/2014

“Simple” blood test to predict if you’ll be alive in 5 years? Please….

The obsession that some in journalism have with “simple” blood tests – the unquestioning “test for everything” mentality that shines through in so many stories – is, itself, bloodcurdling. Yesterday we wrote about how CNN stated that an Alzheimer’s test had “astonishing accuracy” – when another solid news story reported that “the accuracy fell short […]

March 27, 2013 | Story Review

Simple Breath Test Might Diagnose Heart Failure

News editors should have taken a hint from the editors of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology who gave this research space for only a brief report, not thinking it worthy of a full-length article. The story exaggerates the importance and mischaracterizes the results of the study.

3 Star
HealthDay

Simple Breath Test Might Diagnose Heart Failure

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Harold J. DeMonaco, MS
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Sharon Dunwoody, PhD
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Euna Bodner, MS
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Kim Walsh-Childers, PhD
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Virginia A. Moyer, MD
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