Healthy Skepticism Library item: 12771

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Spence D.
From the Frontline: The perils of commissioning bias
BMJ 2008 Feb 9; 336:(7639):332
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/336/7639/332?etoc

Abstract:

The late Friday night debriefing in the kitchen: “You’re not listening.” I have that male trait of being easily distracted by other ideas.

She was right, but fortunately we’d had this discussion many times. “Well, you believe that ADHD is not a ‘condition,’ but an evolutionary trait of men. That boys need exercise to function and that in modern society, and in particular our education system, this is lacking. Boys are like puppies-coop them up, and they will chew the legs off your furniture and shred the newspaper. That vigorous exercise should be used to ‘treat’ this ‘condition.’ You based this argument on our three boys and being a vet. Is that about right?” I replied. She beamed a red wine smile.

Could she actually be right? After a blurry eyed trawl of Medline and the Cochrane database, I found nothing on exercise as an intervention-just thousands of papers on . . .