Healthy Skepticism Library item: 15417

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

Psaty BM.
Conflict of Interest, Disclosure, and Trial Reports
JAMA 2009 Apr 8; 301:(14):1477-1479
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/extract/301/14/1477

Abstract:

When I was an assistant professor, my previous training had not prepared me for the unexpected attention that 2 articles, both from the same study, were to receive. One article provided evidence that abruptly stopping β-blockers might increase the risk of coronary events.1 The other suggested that, compared with the use of high-dose diuretics, which is now no longer recommended, the use of β-blockers might be associated with a lower risk of coronary events in hypertensive patients.2 While the news media’s coverage of the risk study was transient, the pharmaceutical industry had a more sustained interest in the other publication.

My family and I were invited to a first-class resort, where I presented the results at a sponsored conference. Although I lacked both the golf skills and the sense of entitlement to make the most of the holiday, the effort did result in a publication . . .