Concept

Health News

HE A LTH EDUC A TION H E A L T H 1 0 0 V E R S I O N 3 / Understanding your Health Care Choices

"When reading health news, do not automatically believe the headline. Headlines may leave out important information and are often written to draw readers into buying the paper and reading the story. Analyze the article to see what it says about the research it is reporting on. Consider whether the article supports its claims with scientific research. If an article promotes a treatment or lifestyle factor that is supposed to prevent or cause a disease but gives no information about the scientific research behind it, treat it with caution. The same applies to research that has yet to be published. Another area for caution is when a news article is based on a conference abstract. Research presented at conferences is often at a preliminary stage and usually has not been scrutinized by experts in the field. Conference abstracts rarely provide full details about methods, making it difficult to judge how well the research was conducted. For these reasons, articles based on conference abstracts should be no cause for alarm. Do not panic or rush off to your doctor. Quite often, the “miracle cure” in the headline turns out to have only limited support when the research is examined."

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