Autism Prevalence
Two recent studies concerning the prevalence of autism in the US have been getting a lot of attention, because they indicate that autism prevalence may be higher than previously estimated. This, of course, fuels the debate over whether or not there are environmental triggers of autism. One study was conducted by the CDC but has yet to be published. The results were...
The Need for Transparency
A recent editorial in PLOS Medicine discusses the need for transparency in the medical literature, specifically with regard to comparative effectiveness research (CER). The editorial makes many excellent points, but also puts into clear relief the double standard that is consciously being fabricated by proponents of non-science-based medicine. I wrote previously about another editorial that took a very different approach. Speaking for...
We’re Back
As you can see, Science-Based Medicine is now back online and fully functional. We have moved to a new host and a faster dedicated server. It seems that our problem was just that we outgrew our previous host. Sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience. We will now resume our usual schedule of postings.
SBM Problems
As many of you have probably noticed, the science-based medicine site has been having connection problems for the last week, and was in fact down for most of Friday. We are actively working on the problem and hopefully will have it fixed soon. The site is functioning now, but remains very slow. Thanks for your patience, and sorry for any inconvenience.
Kevin Trudeau’s Legal Trouble
Kevin Trudeau has made millions of dollars selling dubious medical products. He started his snake-oil salesman career selling coral calcium through infomercials. Trudeau claimed that this magical form of calcium could cure cancer and whatever ails you. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigated Trudeau, who was making millions off his claims, and found that he was being, let us say, less than...
Integrative Obfuscation
The marketing of so-called CAM or integrative medicine continues. These terms are just that – marketing. They are otherwise vacuous, even deceptive, and meant only to conceal the naked fact that most medical interventions that hide under the CAM/integrative umbrella lack plausibility or credible evidence that they actually work. Medicine that works is simply “medicine” – everything else needs marketing. Last week...
IVF and CAM Use
Perhaps the biggest hurdle to broader acceptance of the need for a consistent scientific basis for medical interventions is the attitude that worthless treatments are harmless. I often have the experience, after reviewing the evidence showing lack of efficacy for a specific intervention, of getting the head-tilt and shrug along with some variation of the dismissive attitude, “Well, if people feel better,...
Off-Label Use of Prescription Drugs
A recent survey of 599 primary care physicians and 600 psychiatrists found that: The adjusted response rate was 47%, respondents were similar to non-respondents, and physicians commonly prescribed the drugs examined. The average respondent accurately identified the FDA-approval status of just over half of the drug-indication pairs queried (mean 55%; median 57%). Accuracy increased modestly (mean 60%, median 63%) when limited to...
New SBM Resource – and a Word on Vaccines
We frequently receive requests from readers, our colleagues in medicine or fellow science bloggers for the best reference site that has all the information they need on a specific topic. There are many excellent resources on the net, but nothing I know of that quite puts it all together in that way – one-stop shopping for up-to-date information on the topics we...
The Rise of Placebo Medicine
It is my contention that terms such as “complementary and alternative medicine” and “integrative medicine” exist for two primary purposes. The first is marketing – they are an attempt at rebranding methods that do not meet the usual standards of unqualified “medicine”. The second is a very deliberate and often calculating attempt at creating a double standard. We already have a standard...