Results for: publication bias
The difference between science-based medicine and CAM
There is a huge difference between science-based medicine (SBM) and so-called "complementary and alternative medicine" (CAM) or, as it's increasingly called, "integrative medicine." That difference is that SBM changes with new science. The change might be messier and slower than we would like, but eventually science and evidence win out.
Acupuncture Doesn’t Work
About a year ago the editors of Anesthesia & Analgesia solicited a written debate on whether or not acupuncture is effective or simply an elaborate placebo. Four experienced acupuncture researchers agreed to write the pro-acupuncture article, Wang, Harris, Lin and Gan. They asked David Colquhoun to write the con position, and David asked me to write it with him (which, of course,...
Medicine
Coming Soon This page is under construction. We’re reviving this project over the summer of 2013. Please check back later this year. Meanwhile, see the index for reference page index that are more developed. Topic Editor: Sections: Topic Overview Index of SBM Posts Outside Resources Summary of Key Research Topic Overview Index of SBM Posts Cell phones and cancer again,...
Critical Thinking
Coming Soon This page is under construction. We’re reviving this project over the summer of 2013. Please check back later this year. Meanwhile, see the index for reference page index that are more developed. Topic Editor: Sections: Topic Overview Index of SBM Posts Outside Resources Summary of Key Research Topic Overview Index of SBM Posts Placebo Effect The Placebo Effect...
Evidence Thresholds
Defenders of science-based medicine are often confronted with the question (challenged, really): what would it take to convince you that “my sacred cow treatment” works? The challenge contains a thinly veiled accusation — no amount of evidence would convince you because you are a nasty skeptic. There is a threshold of evidence that would convince me of just about anything, however. In...
Clinical Decision-Making Part III
How do doctors make clinical decisions to arrive at a diagnosis? Part 3 of a 3-part series.
Picking Cherries in Science: The Bio-Initiative Report
by Kenneth R. Foster & Lorne Trottier Science-based medicine is great, but it all depends on how you evaluate the scientific evidence. A bad example is the BioInitiative Report (BIR), an egregiously slanted review of health and biological effects of electromagnetic fields (EMF) of the sort that are produced by power lines, cellular telephones, Wi-Fi, and other mainstays of modern life. When first...
Is acupuncture as effective as antidepressants? Part 2. Blinding readers who try to get an answer
This is the second blog post about a recent PLOS One review claiming that alternative therapies such as acupuncture are as effective as antidepressants and psychotherapy for depression. The article gives a message to depressed consumers that they should consider alternative therapies as a treatment option because they are just as effective as conventional treatments. It gives promoters of alternative therapies a...
An Age of Endarkenment? The American Veterinary Medical Association and Homeopathy
It can be frustrating, and sometimes even a little depressing, to be a skeptic. Promoting reason and science-based medicine often feels like a Sisyphean effort that garners lots of hostility and ad hominem attacks from proponents of pseudoscience and few concrete victories. But once in a while, something happens to give a little hope and inspiration. In 2010, for example, the House...
Systematic Review claims acupuncture as effective as antidepressants: Part 1: Checking the past literature
A recent systematic review in PLOS One raised the question whether acupuncture and other alternative therapies are as effective as antidepressants and psychotherapy for depression. The authors concluded differences were not seen with psychotherapy compared to antidepressants, alternative therapies [and notably acupuncture] or active intervention controls or put it differently, antidepressants alone and psychotherapy alone are not significantly different from alternative therapies...