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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. In Chance News 28, we reported on a paper by Ionnidis in the August 2005 Public Library of Science (PLoS) Medicine journal, entitled Why most published research findings are false. Readers are referred to the earlier Chance News for a summary of this work.

One might imagine that raising such 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 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