{"id":3668,"date":"2013-06-20T15:49:26","date_gmt":"2013-06-20T20:49:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/steve.cooleysekula.net\/blog\/?p=3668"},"modified":"2013-06-21T06:58:09","modified_gmt":"2013-06-21T11:58:09","slug":"bad-science-reporting-on-mayo-clinic-proceedings-prescription-drug-use-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/steve.cooleysekula.net\/blog\/2013\/06\/20\/bad-science-reporting-on-mayo-clinic-proceedings-prescription-drug-use-paper\/","title":{"rendered":"Bad science reporting on Mayo Clinic Proceedings “Prescription Drug Use” paper"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"CBS<\/a>
CBS demonstrates the inability to even read the abstract of a scientific paper when reporting on prescription drug use.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I saw on Facebook today some repeats of a CBS article from Atlanta entitled “Study: 70 Percent Of Americans On Prescription\u00a0Drugs”<\/em> [1]. The news article cites this actual scientific article from\u00a0the Mayo Clinic’s “Mayo Clinic Proceedings,”<\/em> entitled “Age and Sex Patterns of Drug Prescribing in a Defined American Population”<\/em> [2].<\/p>\n

The CBS article claims right in the first paragraph of their story that<\/p>\n

“Researchers find that nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug, and more than half receive at least two prescriptions.” [1]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is demonstrably a false statement, as reading the abstract of the paper will tell you:<\/p>\n

“Objective: To describe the age and sex patterns of drug prescribing in Olmsted County, Minnesota.” [2]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, the authors say NOTHING of how many generic Americans are taking at least 1 prescription drug. Later on, at the very end of the paper they note that<\/span><\/p>\n

“In general, drug-prescribing patterns in this\u00a0population are consistent with those in previous\u00a0population-based studies in the United States . . .\u00a0<\/em><\/em><\/em>Our findings cannot be\u00a0compared directly with findings from these\u00a0previous studies because of differences in\u00a0methods (weekly or monthly use vs annual\u00a0<\/em><\/em>use and data derived from drug prescriptions\u00a0<\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em>vs self-reports, pharmacy records, or insurance\u00a0<\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em>claims).<\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em>” [2]<\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

but that is about the grandest statement they make. They don’t note that the data is anomalous with expectations based on drugs prescribed to certain age classes, etc. They report this as data-gathering to help inform healthcare system studies, but they don’t consider these numbers representative of “abuse.”<\/span><\/p>\n

The CBS article also makes the outcomes of the study sound horrible by using the weasel word, “prescription drug,” but when you read the data breakdown in the paper the numbers actually make a lot of sense and, if anything, reflect the current trend toward obesity in the United States (in other words, then negative connotations of the paper are more aligned with a known underlying health problem in the U.S. whose symptoms can be treated with a range of prescription drugs).<\/span><\/p>\n

Taking all age groups together:<\/span><\/p>\n