Posted on 02/07/2014 9:44:25 AM PST by fwdude
Twenty years ago last week the statistician Doug Altman published an editorial in the BMJ arguing that much medical research was of poor quality and misleading. In his editorial entitled, “The Scandal of Poor Medical Research,” Altman wrote that much research was “seriously flawed through the use of inappropriate designs, unrepresentative samples, small samples, incorrect methods of analysis, and faulty interpretation.” Twenty years later I fear that things are not better but worse.
(snip)
Why, asked Altman, is so much research poor? Because “researchers feel compelled for career reasons to carry out research that they are ill equipped to perform, and nobody stops them.” In other words, too much medical research was conducted by amateurs who were required to do some research in order to progress in their medical careers.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercatornet.com ...
They also feel compelled to, one way or another, arrive at a result that will prove pleasing to the pharma company who funded the research.
Not just pharma companies, but any group which wants to bolster their pre-approved conclusion.
Could easily apply to Climate “Science”.
Much of today’s criticism of medical research is flawed.
The Cochrane Collaboration seems to be the best reference site IMO. At least they attempt to be objective. You can read more about them at: http://www.cochrane.org/about-us.
but they'll come up with all these statistics that the rate of sudden infant death syndrome has decreased, which is a whole another set of statistics based on probable impossible data....
like when they tell us that red light cameras save all these lives......
our local rag carried a story about how the use of red light cameras has decreased the number of accidents in intersections....but buried deep in the article it also says the rate for ALL accidents has decreased everywhere.....
The flaw is ignorance. That is, the bounds of understanding are breached beyond the knowing.
Then there’s the billions we throw away on prescription medications with horrendous side effects that, most of the time, we don’t need. Comments anyone?
“The love of money is the root of all evil.”
I am always asking myself what political agenda is behind the latest “research”.
Comment: I agree with you. Most doctors seem to be pharma reps....and knowing that docs get bennies for pushing some drugs (or have in the past) makes me even more wary. I have a long history of telling docs NO to meds.
Wow, stunning paper....not.Please read the following article from 2010 based on work started in 2001 in Greece and continues on to Stanford.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/11/lies-damned-lies-and-medical-science/308269/
Most of ANY kind of research is flawed.
It is, after all, conducted by human beings.
Even when someone is NOT trying to “juke” the results, there will be honest human errors.
Errors are only part of the problem. Outright laziness in pursuing an unexpected result exists even among scientific researchers.
True.
There is also the unavoidable, and often subconscious, plain old ego as a factor in scientific research. The researcher’s goal is to find an answer to a question. When a verifiable answer is indeterminable by the data available, there is the irresistible penchant to force an answer where none is truly, scientifically evident.
I live in a world of chronic pain. Narcotics I don’t want. All those mind altering drugs again NO. Very side effect sensitive.
PCP does not read reaction list before he writes scripts, so I get this CARP called Narco 10 mg. It clearly states liver damage and not to use on Thyroid patients. ME in other words. 1 pill, 3 days of side effects.
Colon infection in Oct, I get IV Zoyin for 3 days in hosp0ital, told only mild side effects. DUH , burning urine, no infection of bladder. PH balance thrown off, light sensitivity, blurred vision, temp lost of eye sight in R eye for 2 weeks and this is a mild side effect drug? STUPID ME bad English could not tell the difference between the need for Prydium and Monistat.
Lyrica is the #1 drug + Cymbalta for FMS, Lyrica has a 50% failure rate because of the terrible side effects per pain specialist. Cymbalta is addictive, and mind fogging. So is Xanax which is the next nasty side effect riddled drug they try you on.
Doctors DO NOT read your side effect history, nor do they read the side effects on the drugs they write scripts for. And why is my new PCP running EKG, Chest xray and Thyroid panels every 3 months. I have a ENDO to treat the Hypo Thyroid, do not have any heart or lung issues. Hubby has CARDIO, and both specialist want to run their own test work as they know what will throw of a T panel where the PCP has no knowledge of these things. Both some free, home and care. BILL PADDING, cause 0’care. Medicare/Tricare Life poor reimbursement of providers.
9 out of 10 Doctors say, “9 out of 10 doctors are wrong”.
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