4 ms·

Not a biologist by any stretch of the imagination, so I am asking purely out of ignorance - how does your study debunk the OP's? Yours is about NSAIDs (i.e. asp

by 25cf 11y ago

Not a biologist by any stretch of the imagination, so I am asking purely out of ignorance - how does your study debunk the OP's? Yours is about NSAIDs (i.e. aspirin) decreasing the risk of Alzheimer's, OP's is about paracetamol (not an NSAID) increasing the likelihood of Alzheimers. Correct me if I'm misunderstanding something here...

cpncrunch 11y ago
I think perhaps you didn't read it carefully enough: "In addition, we examined use of acetaminophen...No association was found between AD risk and use of acetaminophen"
dragonwriter 11y ago
GP's study includes PA (which is also known as acetaminophen) as well as NSAIDs, and finds no effect, so it is a contrary result. Calling it a preemptive debunking may be a bit excessive, but given that it is a more direct study of the relationship, it (from the abstract, at least) seems to be a reason for skepticism.
ZanyProgrammer 11y ago
"Not a biologist by any stretch of the imagination"- a problem with the software engineers on Hackernews pontificating about other subjects.
- pc2g4d 11y ago
  This is quasi-ad hominem, and yet there's a kernel of truth to it, i.e. being a software engineer doesn't necessarily make you a critical thinker.
  - philh 11y ago
    "I am asking purely out of ignorance ... Correct me if I'm misunderstanding something here" How do you think 25cf should have handled this differently?
    - ams6110 11y ago
      Just ask the question. The preamble and last sentence only detract from the main point: how does your study debunk the OP's? Yours is about NSAIDs (i.e. aspirin) decreasing the risk of Alzheimer's, OP's is about paracetamol (not an NSAID) increasing the likelihood of Alzheimers. If you're misunderstanding something, don't worry, someone will set you straight.
bunderbunder 11y ago
It found aspirin most likely has a protective effect. It found no strong evidence of any association for acetaminophen, but the 95% confidence interval on the result is pretty wide. So it doesn't entirely rule out the possibility of there being a relationship, and based on its results alone it's entirely plausible that a test with more statistical power could find that it doubles your risk of Alzheimer's disease. But it could also plausibly find that it has a mild protective effect. Regardless of which is the case, this study still strongly challenges what's being suggested by TFA. Even a doubling of Alzheimer's risk resulting from a lifetime of acetaminophen use is nothing at all like its suggestion that Alzheimer's is a disease that was unheard of before the development of NSAIDs related to Tylenol.
- dragonwriter 11y ago
  > its suggestion that Alzheimer's is a disease that was unheard of before the development of NSAIDs related to Tylenol. Minor point: Tylenol isn't an NSAID, nor is the prior drug to which the article links Alzheimer's.

by 25cf 11y ago

cpncrunch 11y ago

I think perhaps you didn't read it carefully enough: "In addition, we examined use of acetaminophen...No association was found between AD risk and use of acetaminophen"

dragonwriter 11y ago

GP's study includes PA (which is also known as acetaminophen) as well as NSAIDs, and finds no effect, so it is a contrary result. Calling it a preemptive debunking may be a bit excessive, but given that it is a more direct study of the relationship, it (from the abstract, at least) seems to be a reason for skepticism.

ZanyProgrammer 11y ago

"Not a biologist by any stretch of the imagination"- a problem with the software engineers on Hackernews pontificating about other subjects.

pc2g4d 11y ago
This is quasi-ad hominem, and yet there's a kernel of truth to it, i.e. being a software engineer doesn't necessarily make you a critical thinker.
- philh 11y ago
  "I am asking purely out of ignorance ... Correct me if I'm misunderstanding something here" How do you think 25cf should have handled this differently?
  - ams6110 11y ago
    Just ask the question. The preamble and last sentence only detract from the main point: how does your study debunk the OP's? Yours is about NSAIDs (i.e. aspirin) decreasing the risk of Alzheimer's, OP's is about paracetamol (not an NSAID) increasing the likelihood of Alzheimers. If you're misunderstanding something, don't worry, someone will set you straight.

bunderbunder 11y ago

It found aspirin most likely has a protective effect. It found no strong evidence of any association for acetaminophen, but the 95% confidence interval on the result is pretty wide. So it doesn't entirely rule out the possibility of there being a relationship, and based on its results alone it's entirely plausible that a test with more statistical power could find that it doubles your risk of Alzheimer's disease. But it could also plausibly find that it has a mild protective effect. Regardless of which is the case, this study still strongly challenges what's being suggested by TFA. Even a doubling of Alzheimer's risk resulting from a lifetime of acetaminophen use is nothing at all like its suggestion that Alzheimer's is a disease that was unheard of before the development of NSAIDs related to Tylenol.

dragonwriter 11y ago
> its suggestion that Alzheimer's is a disease that was unheard of before the development of NSAIDs related to Tylenol. Minor point: Tylenol isn't an NSAID, nor is the prior drug to which the article links Alzheimer's.