5 ms·
I follow Vinay Prasad MD (https://www.youtube.com/@vprasadmdmph https://www.youtube.com/@vprasadmdmph), who does a lot of research related to medical studies an
by chmorgan_ 2y ago
I follow Vinay Prasad MD (https://www.youtube.com/@vprasadmdmph https://www.youtube.com/@vprasadmdmph), who does a lot of research related to medical studies and methodology, lots of cancer related ones as that's an area where he works.
You'd be surprised at the number of cancer treatment studies that are deeply flawed:
- Positive effects may have a low confidence due to small sample size, the joke is that if you can fit the laser pointer between the lines it's considered a success. Cancer is a very tough disease and sometimes positive results are due to noise in the dataset.
- Some studies don't consider overall survival (important because you might not die of cancer but you might die sooner from a side effect like Parkinson's caused by the treatment). See mammograms and colonoscopies for treatments that look like they are almost entirely ineffective.
- Don't compare against the standard of care (its easier to show positive results if you aren't using the best treatments available)
- Allow for self selection (the treatment isn't blind or double blind and people drop out of the control group, skewing the results)
Imo he's an excellent source of the latest data driven results related to cancer and other treatments.
- thenerdhead 2y agohttps://www.panaccindex.info/p/profile-ucsfs-vinay-prasad https://www.panaccindex.info/p/profile-ucsfs-vinay-prasad
- rob74 2y agoSo, a COVID denialist/anti-vaxxer trying to find a new field of activity?
- ggm 2y agoI believe Mammograms and Colonoscopies are diagnostic techniques not treatments per se. It is possible you are conflating the rise of over-diagnosis, and mis-diagnosis from improvements in imaging, and the consequent rise in colonoscopies and removal of polyps.