Chance News 30

Supplement may help treat gambling addiction

Miniapolis Star Tribune, September 12, 2007

There seems to be a never-ending supply of questionable statistical studies. Consider the recent Minneapolis Star Tribune account of September 12, 2007. A University of Minnesota researcher publishing in the September 15, 2007 issue of Biological Psychiatry treated "27 pathological gamblers for eight weeks" with an amino acid supplement, N-acetyl cysteine . "By the end, 60 percent said they had fewer urges to gamble." Of the 16 who reported a benefit, "13 remained in a follow-up study.five out the six on the supplement reported continued improvement, compared to two out of seven on a placebo." According to the researcher, "There does seem to be some effect, but you would need bigger numbers."

Here are the results of the follow-up study as seen by Minitab:

MTB > PTwo 6 5 7 2.

Test and CI for Two Proportions

Sample	X	N	Sample p
1	5	6	.0.833333
2	2	7	0.285714