Category archive: Statistics

Always read the full paper

Posted on October 6, 2011 by

Adam

Adam set up Dianthus Medical in 1999. He is an experienced medical writer and statistician, has a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Cambridge and an MSc in medical statistics from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

and filed under Pseudoscience Statistics 1 Comment

My attention has just been drawn to a paper which reviews basic research in homeopathy. It’s bollocks, of course, as is most research in homeopathy, but it does provide a useful little lesson in the importance of reading the full paper and not relying on the abstract. In the abstract, we are told that their literature search identified 830 basic science experiments (ie experiments in labs, rather than clinical trials) of high potency homeopathic dilutions. For those not familiar with … Continue reading →

Student tuition fees

Posted on August 12, 2011 by

Adam

and filed under Statistics Leave a comment

Forgive me for writing 2 non-medical posts in a row, but this morning’s Today programme on Radio 4 contained such an egregious schoolboy error in statistics that I just couldn’t resist. They were discussing student tuition fees, and some new estimates that students starting university next year will graduate with about £50,000 worth of debts. UK readers will doubtless be familiar with the background to this, but for those of you from further afield, this results from a decision to … Continue reading →

London riots

Posted on August 9, 2011 by

Adam

and filed under Not work Statistics 1 Comment

London is under attack. Last night’s scenes of violence and destruction are worse than anything I remember in my lifetime. What I think was most scary was that the police were simply overwhelmed, and did not have the resources to deal with the rampant criminality. I got to see some of this first hand. I happened to be in Colliers Wood yesterday evening. One shop had been set on fire, and other shops had had windows smashed and were being … Continue reading →

Bias in papers about bias

Posted on March 4, 2011 by

Adam

and filed under Medical ethics Medical writing Statistics 1 Comment

I have just read a paper describing how Evil Big Pharma manipulates the medical literature so that they can make more money from selling their drugs, no matter what the science says. That paper made me grumpy. Why? Well, if you are going to write a scientific paper criticising someone for introducing bias into the scientific literature, would it be too much to ask that you should do it in an unbiased way? What makes me grumpy is when people … Continue reading →

Zinc and the common cold

Posted on February 16, 2011 by

Adam

and filed under Clinical research Statistics 1 Comment

Today’s big health news story is a new Cochrane review that looked at zinc as a treatment for the common cold. The conclusion of the review is that taking zinc supplements within 24 hours of the onset of a cold can reduce the duration and severity of symptoms. However, I’m not convinced. The finding is based on a relatively small number of studies. Only 6 studies were used in the meta-analysis of the duration of symptoms. 4 of those studies were … Continue reading →

Duration of exclusive breastfeeding and risk of anaemia

Posted on January 14, 2011 by

Adam

and filed under Dreadful science reporting in the media Statistics 13 Comments

There’s been a lot of stuff in the news today about a paper that’s just been published in the BMJ by Mary Fewtrell and colleagues, which questions the current recommendation that infants should be exclusively breastfed for 6 months. There are many issues here, and I don’t have time to look at all of them, but one thing that I found interesting is that the paper raises the possibility that exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months may increase the risk of iron-deficiency … Continue reading →

Implanon and contraceptive failures

Posted on January 5, 2011 by

Adam

and filed under Dreadful science reporting in the media Statistics 1 Comment

Today a story has been in the news about the “scandalous” contraceptive failures reported with Implanon, a long-term hormonal contraceptive which is implanted under the skin. See here and here for examples from some of our most respected broadcasters. And see here for an example from possibly our least respected “news” source, the Daily Mail. OK, given that I’m quoting the Daily Mail, you’ve probably guessed by now that I’m not entirely happy with the way this story has been … Continue reading →

The imperial war on drugs

Posted on December 16, 2010 by

Adam

and filed under Medical ethics Statistics 1 Comment

I often write about drugs, and am doing so again today, but today’s post is not about licensed pharmaceutical products designed to treat disease; it’s about drugs of abuse: heroin, cocaine, and the like. Bob Ainsworth, a Labour MP and a former cabinet minister, has publicly declared his support for legalising all drugs. It’s certainly a radical solution. He imagines a future in which drug users can obtain heroin, cocaine, or whatever perfectly legally, either on prescription from their GP … Continue reading →

Should we all take a daily dose of aspirin?

Posted on December 7, 2010 by

Adam

and filed under Clinical research Statistics 1 Comment

The lead item on the news on Radio 4 when I woke up this morning was a paper that has just been published in the Lancet on the effects of daily aspirin use on cancer deaths. This was presented as a major new piece of research that might mean we should all be taking aspirin every day. Does it? Well, it was certainly an excellent piece of research, which tells as a great deal about the effect of daily aspirin … Continue reading →

Why you should not believe a word in adverts

Posted on November 28, 2010 by

Adam

and filed under Pseudoscience Statistics 2 Comments

Last month, I blogged about the highly misleading advert for Dettol, which claims “Dettol protects: fact”, and my response from the Advertising Standards Authority to my complaint about the advert. It appeared that the ASA had misunderstood my complaint, and thought I was doubting Dettol’s ability to kill bacteria on kitchen surfaces (which I don’t). Rather, I was complaining that the advert was claiming that using Dettol can protect against infection, which is not at all the same thing as … Continue reading →