Mary Chris Jaklevic is a reporter-editor, HealthNewsReview.org, and can be reached on Twitter @mcjaklevic.

Most new cancer treatments haven’t been proven to help patients live longer or feel better

Conditions and Diseases
December 5, 2019

Most new cancer treatments haven’t been proven to help patients live longer or feel better. Instead, they delay the growth of tumors — which may be faster to measure but doesn’t necessarily indicate a tangible benefit for patients.

But you wouldn’t grasp that sobering fact from some recent news coverage:

  • A headline in the UK’s Telegraph about the drug olaparib (Lynparza) read: “Revolution’ in prostate cancer care as off-label …

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Most new cancer treatments haven’t been proven to help patients live longer or feel better

Beware the hidden agenda of free hernia screenings

Conditions and Diseases
July 31, 2019

Some hospitals are trying a curious new tactic to attract patients: free hernia screenings.

One Illinois hospital raffled off tickets for a smart speaker to entice people to get their abdomens checked by a surgeon, while an Indiana hospital offered a chance to win dinner at a chophouse.

Announcements for screening events in Colorado and Maryland warned about “life-threatening” complications that could arise if hernias are left untreated. And hospitals in Read more…

Beware the hidden agenda of free hernia screenings

When medical experts say “first,” be careful

Conditions and Diseases
May 21, 2019

Spot the word “first” in a headline, and you might assume a major milestone has been reached. Think first person on the moon, first woman on the Supreme Court.

But in health care news, things heralded for being first might not amount to a clear advance for patients. Take two recent FDA announcements that made a splash despite weak evidence that they really help people.

In March the FDA announced its approval of a “first treatment …

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When medical experts say “first,” be careful

How mundane health findings can be prettied up with PR magic

Conditions and Diseases
February 23, 2019

As all researchers know, science is a grinding parade of failure and dead ends. But as we’ve often written, news release writers sometimes seem hell-bent on making the public believe otherwise.

Like expert makeup artists, they can add sparkle to lackluster findings, mask blemishes in study designs, and smooth over unimpressive data.

One thing I won’t miss much about my job at HealthNewsReview.org is reading the daily churn of PR releases.

Every weekday morning …

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How mundane health findings can be prettied up with PR magic

The recent fish oil and vitamin D studies: Go beyond the headlines

Medications
December 1, 2018

Results of a much-anticipated trial on fish oil and vitamin D generated conflicting headlines recently.

Some stories declared good news about the popular supplements.

Reuters wrote that fish oil “can dramatically reduce the odds of a heart attack while vitamin D’s benefits seem to come from lowering the risk of death from cancer.”

The Washington Post reported fish-oil medications were found “effective” in protecting …

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The recent fish oil and vitamin D studies: Go beyond the headlines

The carefully crafted way of how health misinformation spreads

Conditions and Diseases
November 9, 2018

Effective clickbait doesn’t just happen. It’s carefully crafted.

Take this wildly misleading article from CNN: Not exercising worse for your health than smoking, diabetes, and heart disease, study reveals.

It’s one example — among many generated daily by various news outlets — of how a mundane observational study can be transformed into viral internet gold. In the days after it was published, this story was liked and …

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The carefully crafted way of how health misinformation spreads

The problem with first-person reporting of unproven interventions

Medications
August 2, 2018

Houston Chronicle reporter Craig Hlavaty recently treated readers to a first-person account of getting an intravenous (IV) vitamin infusion inside a van parked outside his house.

The article, “Feeling the drip, drip, drip of the mobile IV craze,” related how a needle was inserted into his arm, “just where a tattooed lightning bolt strikes.”

Hlavaty extolled the cool rush of liquid into his veins:

After a few minutes, a great euphoria hits …

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The problem with first-person reporting of unproven interventions