Healthy Skepticism Library item: 19802

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

Hazinski TA
Which research results should the public believe?
NEJM 1995 Apr 6; 332:(14):963
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199504063321420

Abstract:

To the Editor:

With respect to Angell and Kassirer’s editorial (July 21 issue)1 concerning the public’s confusion about the results of clinical trials, I think the public and the media would be better able to assess research results if medical researchers themselves were more modest and careful when discussing their results with journalists. The Journal has led the way in embargoing research results until after publication, but such rules cannot prevent the ambitious or naive investigator (or the investigator’s institution) from touting results and pushing conclusions beyond the limits of the data. This problem is likely to increase as corporate support for research grows, with all of its financial implications for the marketplace, researchers, and research institutions. We cannot and should not control the media, but we should be able to control ourselves and to place research results in their proper context.

Thomas A. Hazinski, M.D.
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232