STAT July 16, 2019
We are awash in articles reporting new study results. Whether it’s a potential cure for an illness, daunting statistics about health care outcomes, or the latest take on what makes a healthy diet, we’re receiving more information than we’ve ever had before nudging us toward making decisions about our health.
But are we getting accurate information?
Dr. John Ioannidis, a statistician and professor of medicine at Stanford, recently joined three dozen health researchers in a Stanford lecture hall to explain why most research findings are false. Of the most widely cited health research studies of the last decade, he found that only a minority could be replicated, and at least 1 in 6 had actually been contradicted by later studies.
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