Medical advice is often subject to
change. For instance, a new trial that’s
more thorough than previous studies might cast doubt on a current practice. Recent studies found that:
·
Raising HDL (good) cholesterol with drugs does nothing to protect
people against heart attacks, strokes and early death.
·
Routine prostate-cancer screening is less likely to save lives and more
likely to lead to substantial harm from subsequent treatment.
·
People who receive a brain stent to prevent a second stroke are
actually more likely to have another stroke or die sooner compared with those
who take medication AND also make fairly rigorous lifestyle changes.
·
A medical “reversal” occurs when an existing practice is found to be
wrong. “It happens when devices, pills,
and procedures come to market before they have been shown to make people live
longer or better in well-designed studies,” says Vinay Prasad, M.D., a
physician in Chicago . He is the lead author of a 2011 study
published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, which found that 13 percent of
the research articles published in The New England Journal of Medicine in 2009
reported reversals in research findings involving drugs, screening tests, and
invasive procedures.
·
Another review published in the Journal of the American Medical
Association looked at studies that found a medical practice was effective. One-third of them were followed by trials that
either contradicted the initial findings or found fewer benefits. It is not uncommon for early research to
provide an overoptimistic view of new treatments,” says David Tovey, M.D.,
editor-in-chief of the Cochrane Library, and international research network
that evaluates treatment effectiveness. In
other cases, popular health beliefs ultimately prove to be baseless. Below are familiar practices and assumptions
that have recently been revised because of additional research. Feed a cold, starve a fever: “There is no scientific basis” says Yul D, Ejnes,
M.D. Rhode of Island chairman of the Board of Regents of the American College
of Physicians. “With a fever, one should
be well-hydrated because there’s often excessive sweating or gastrointestinal
illness that can result in fluid loss.
Starving would also cause stress when bodies are already under stress. }MORE
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