Category
Covering medical studies
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Health reporters deserve high marks for chelation coverage
In case you missed it, health reporters who cover medical studies had a shining moment recently. It centered around the…
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The downside of using big data in medical research
A scientific scuffle played out in the pages of the Lancet recently. At issue was whether a team of scientists…
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Big data is coming to a study near you
As social networks and search engines catalog our every click and keystroke, they generate billions or even trillions of data…
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Plenty of pitfalls in reporting on medical studies #ahcj13
Seventy percent of news articles on medical studies fail to discuss costs of the treatment studies, quantify potential harms and benefits, and…
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All in the family: When medical experts disagree #ahcj13
Oncologist Jerome Groopman and endocrinologist Pamela Hartzband both attended Ivy League medical schools. He went to Columbia. She went to…
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Housework-hurts-sex study causes a dust up
You may have seen — and let’s face it — given a giant eye roll to a recent studythat claimed…
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Lessons from a soda study that lost its fizz
Last October, Brigham and Women’s Hospital took the unusual step of recalling a press release about a research study. Just…
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Aspirin study causes headaches for journalists
Along with a story on aspirin and macular degeneration, my editors got a panicked note from me recently: “I struggled…
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Journalists beware: Surrogate endpoints strike again
Remember what happens when you assume? Trials that use surrogate endpoints to test treatments are making assumptions that those drugs…
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Don’t fudge the facts on chocolate studies
Studies that support a link between chocolate and good health are popular with readers. But the reality is that most…