Believing Medical Reports
Thinking carefully about medical reports – before believing them. This is Dr. Steven Andrew Davis, Speaking of Health. Published research data can be skewed or contradicted by later, bigger or better-designed studies. A study linking a childhood vaccine with autism illustrates that problem, and more. Here is how the Pediatric Alert newsletter tells the story.
Six years ago a Dr. Wakefield and colleagues published a study of 12 children in the distinguished journal Lancet suggesting a link between the widely use measles-mumps-rubella vaccine – and the serious childhood disorder, autism. The impact of this study was enormous, with some parents afraid to vaccinate their children, and some with autistic children thinking this vaccine had caused their child’s problem. The problem now is that several subsequent studies say the link isn’t there. In fact, the latest study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked at almost 700 children with autism and finds no link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Unfortunately staining Dr. Wakefield’s original study even more is the apparent conflict of interest when conducting his research because “he was also gathering information for lawyers representing parents who suspected that their children had developed autism because of the vaccine.” Eventually, most of the researchers on the original study retracted their conclusion saying the “no causal ink was established…as the data were insufficient.”
Does it or doesn’t it? When the impact is great you’ve got to look deep and hard – and then look again. For a copy of this script check our website, speakingofhealth.com. Speaking of Health, I’m Dr. Steven Andrew Davis, for CBS News.
Ref: Pediatric Alert. Vol 29, No. 5.