Kangaroo Mother Care, Skin-To-Skin Contact, and the Risk of Sudden Unexpected Postnatal Collapse
In January, a study published in Pediatrics, the American Academy of Pediatrics’ flagship peer-reviewed journal, presented evidence in support of Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) and its primary intervention: prolonged skin-to-skin contact (SSC) between a mother and her newborn child. I was originally asked to discuss this report at the time by the editors of The Scientific Parent, which is a great resource...
Is it ethical to sell complementary and alternative medicine?
Complementary and alternative medicine may be legal to sell - but is it ethical to sell?
Update on the Zika Virus
A new word has been added to the public’s vocabulary – the Zika virus. It seems we have one more infectious agent to worry about. Here are the facts as we currently understand them regarding the recent Zika epidemic, and also some rumors and conspiracy theories that need debunking. Zika virus The Zika virus (of the viral family Flaviviridae, an Arthropod-Borne or...
Puritan’s Pride Vitamin Advisor Gives Questionable Advice
The Puritan’s Pride website has a Vitamin Advisor that claims to provide a personalized supplement plan, with expert recommendations chosen just for you. In my opinion it is deceptive, designed not to provide evidence-based personalized health advice, but to sell their products; and one can only wonder what kind of “experts” would support such ill-advised recommendations. Stephen Barrett and I have just...
Did chiropractic neck manipulation kill Katie May?
Well, we’re back. Yes, after having our WordPress database somehow borked to the point where no new posts could be added and no existing posts could be edited since Friday, Science-Based Medicine is back in business—finally! As a result, some of you might have seen this post elsewhere, as it was considered to be somewhat time-sensitive, and I didn’t want to delay,...
Curse Removal from the Annals. More Acupuncture Nonsense.
A short post this week. Last weekend was a busy call weekend and as I type this I am heading for Palm Springs for a long weekend of hiking in the desert. If there is no entry in 14 days, look for my bleached bones somewhere in Joshua Tree. Some observations about a recent article in the once-respected Annals of Internal Medicine,...
Pseudoscience sneaks into Ohio guidelines for non-drug pain treatment
Ohio recently issued Acute Pain Prescribing Guidelines as part of an effort to reduce the epidemic of opioid abuse and death from overdose. They were drafted under the auspices of the Governor’s Cabinet Opiate Action Team (GCOAT), assisted by medical organizations and other groups. The guidelines include recommendations for non-pharmacologic treatment, a typical feature of pain treatment guidelines and a worthy effort...
Laws Limiting Vaccine Exemptions Work
It’s nice when a question can be resolved with objective numbers of unequivocal outcomes. Subjective outcomes give scientists a headache. In this case we are talking about the effect of vaccine exemption laws on vaccine compliance rates. The question here is not the ethical one, the rights of parents to determine the fate of their children vs the right of the state...
Prenatal Multivitamins and Iron: Not Evidence-Based
When I was pregnant, I obediently took the iron pills and prenatal vitamins prescribed by my obstetrician. And I prescribed them for every pregnant patient I took care of as a family physician. I never questioned the practice. It seemed intuitively obvious that it was a good thing; we know pregnancy makes extra nutritional demands and depletes iron stores. It never occurred...
When antivaccine pseudoscience isn’t enough, Bill Maher fawns over Charlie Sheen’s HIV quack
I know I must be getting older because of Friday nights. After a long, hard week (and, during grant season, in anticipation of a long, hard weekend of grant writing), it’s not infrequent that my wife and I order pizza, plant ourselves in front of the TV, and end up asleep before 10 or 11 PM. Usually, a few hours later, between...
Baffled
I am baffled.