Sharing health evidence you can trust
This blog describes the first in a new series of Cochrane Special Collections which brings together examples of treatments and health care which - despite being costly and time-consuming - research suggests could be unhelpful to patients, or even harmful.
In this blog for pregnant women and the people involved in their care, Fiona Stewart, Cochrane Network Support Fellow, looks at the latest Cochrane evidence from a review she co-authored on antenatal corticosteroids for women at risk of preterm birth and how it links to the Cochrane logo.
A large amount of medical research is never published and studies that are published are more likely to report favourable results. This blog explores how this ‘publication bias’ is a scientific and ethical problem that can lead to the benefits of treatments being overestimated, and harms being underestimated.
Lynda Ware, Senior Fellow in General Practice at Cochrane UK, explains why detecting diseases earlier by screening is not always beneficial, and may – in some cases – be harmful.
This blog explains why personal experience, or a series of personal experiences, can be misleading. Just because an individual got better after using a treatment does not mean that other people who receive the same treatment will also improve, or that the treatment is responsible – ‘regression to the mean’ tells us that experiences such as pain may improve anyway without treatment.
Lynda Ware explains that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence and why it's important not to mistake one for the other, in the fourth blog in our series "Oh really? 12 things to help you question health advice."
This blog explores a number of cautionary examples, reminding that all treatments have potential harms. We should consider the evidence not just about whether a treatment works, but whether it is safe. This is the third blog of our special series on Evidently Cochrane: “Oh, really?” 12 things to help you question health advice.
We are bombarded with information and advice on our health. This blog gives advice on how to assess whether what we read is trustworthy and evidence-based.
In the second blog of our special series "Oh, really?" Robert Walton looks with a critical eye at the value of new and expensive therapies for medical conditions.
Lucy Beishon blogs about her experience of writing a Cochrane diagnostic test accuracy review.
Expert advice isn’t always right or based on careful consideration of the best evidence. In the first blog of our new special series '“Oh, really?” 12 things to help you question health advice', Cochrane UK's Director, Professor Martin Burton, takes us from experts to evidence.
Introducing a new special series of blogs on Evidently Cochrane: “Oh, really?” Twelve things to help you question health advice. In 2020, we're publishing one blog each month, offering 12 things to help you question health advice. The series is based on a list of ‘Key Concepts’ developed by the Informed Health Choice project team.