April 04, 2008
Disease mongering by Women's Health magazine
Add Women's Health magazine to my list of publications guilty of disease-mongering by advocating tests that are not supported by evidence - recommendations that run counter to those of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.
The article, "THE MEDICAL TESTS YOU SHOULD TAKE: Head-to-Toe Tune-Up" is not unlike those I've criticized on CNN, in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and in a number of other news outlets.
No source is given for the recommendations.
Journalists: when you promote testing and screening in healthy populations in the absence of evidence of benefit and in the presence of known harms you may be causing harm yourselves. And you're certainly stirring up the "worried well" to seek medical attention when they may not need it. We're already devoting 16% of the gross domestic product to health care.
Posted by schwitz at April 4, 2008 06:54 AM | TrackBackMy policy on comments
I'm adopting the policy of a blog I admire: “Comments are great;
obnoxious comments get deleted. Deal.” I also won’t post profanity, product pitches, or anything from anyone
who doesn’t list what appears to be an actual e-mail address.