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Medical misinformation

Lies, damned lies, and medical science
by David H. Freedman, The Atlantic, November 2010

This is a long essay on the work of Dr. John Ioannidis. A paper by Ionnidis, entitled Why most published research findings are false was published in August 2005 in the Public Library of Science (PLoS) Medicine journal. John Gavin gave an excellent summary of this article in Chance News 28.

One might imagine that raising serious reservations about the research enterprise might have made Ionnidis unpopular. However, the Atlantic article reports that, far from being ostracized by his colleagues, Ioannidis has become a much-sought-after speaker, and is a frequent co-author on research papers. His original PLoS article has become the most downloaded in the history of that journal.

The article concludes with this quote from Ioannidis, which might serve as the moral of the story:

Science is a noble endeavor, but it’s also a low-yield endeavor. I’m not sure that more than a very small percentage of medical research is ever likely to lead to major improvements in clinical outcomes and quality of life. We should be very comfortable with that fact.

Submitted by Bill Peterson