Sunday, January 31, 2010

Sunday hot tub reading

Okay, I polished off a few more journals to help keep up-to-date this afternoon, and have learned that:


People who use excessive amounts of salt have increased risks of stroke and heart disease (WOW! I've never heard that one before!). British Medical Journal, November 24, 2009.

Excedrin Migraine is effective for some patients with migraines (when compared to placebo), but not for others. Paper presented at the 14th Congress of the International Headache Society.

People who have severe migraines on workdays are more likely to miss work due to migraines, than people who don't have migraines during those times. Another paper presented at the 14th Congress of the International Headache Society.

18 comments:

Bibliotekaren said...

LOL! I remember a prof in OT school being really excited that her research had come out statistically significant -- it indicated that the chronically mentally ill don't use their free time as productively as the general population :0

I attempted to act impressed.

Anonymous said...

Those last two...really that's brilliant. They needed to do a study to figure that out? I can just tap into my personal life experience :). Excedrin migraine...sure glad it works for someone though.

Cate said...

... I thought it was supposed to be HARD to get published...

MsCee said...

And here I was thinking doctors were smart...lol

Ellie said...

Good grief. And this round thing, over here? If you push it, it rolls further than this square thing.

Khymberl said...

Well, that last one certainly explains why I don't get as much work done (if any) during a migraine. And here I am thinking it was just this huge coincidence!

I wonder if that applies to all sorts of pain or just migraine pain? Ooh, there should be a study done on that!

thegooddrlaura said...

People who never throw away anything and just keep stacking and piling up junk and trash end up on Hoarders. People who clean up every night and throw things away once in a while live in cleaner houses than people who are on Hoarders. Betchu never knew that.

King J's Queen said...

About 40% of those who call in sick to work do so on either a Monday or a Friday.

Danimal said...

I'm planning on citing the research you mention in my study of the impact of a spear through the head on workday productivity.

Nurse K said...

Remember, people, that the major criticism of the NIH is that grant applications usually require you to have a good idea of the results of the paper before you do the research. Also, they like to give out many grants for many small studies that aren't very costly to conduct.

This is why there is no cure for cancer, but there are oodles of studies that say things like "those who have chronic pain are less active than those who don't". Blame the NIH. Funding for novel research into new areas is oftentimes denied in favor of some sort of simpleton paper.

axl said...

The latter 2 sound more like presentations by delegates to the 14th Congress of the International Imbecile Society.
Chances are that if your parents didn't have children neither will you.

Moose said...

You know, I used to mock studies like these, too, until I got a lecture from a friend who was a biomedical researcher.

The problem with "everyone knows that..." is that too often it's only known through word of mouth or colloquial observation. Those are great ideas for *starting* a study but they aren't proof.

Here's an exaggerated example: Say that 80% of the dementia patients Dr Grumpy sees are white and over 80 years old. Does this mean that dementia mostly strikes white people over 80 yrs of age? No. Does this bear looking into the racial makeup and age breakdown of people who get dementia? Yes!

Even if a study was done 50 yrs ago showing that A causes B, studies need to be redone. People change, lifestyles change, heredity changes the overall population. Even if the study 50 yrs later shows that A still causes B, it's an important find for overall science.

Also, it is important to be able to say "We've known for 50 yrs that A causes B, *repeated* research shows this." One study does not make a scientific fact.

[I hope I've explained that right. If Claire, rest her soul, were still alive I know she'd do it better.]

Today's Captcha Word: splicubr. I think that's what's wrong with my spine.

Hal Dall, MD said...

AHA! A doctor who keeps up to date, unlike those lazy SOBs Reader's Digest wrote about!

I'd be able to keep up too, if I had a hot tub!

Fiz said...

Even I know those things and I graduated in History! Sheesh!

ERP said...

Are you sure you were not reading the headlines in "yahoo health"?

Lorelei Armstrong said...

And we've found some volunteers to be returned to family practice!

Anonymous said...

yes, but how about the one where the husband's blood pressure was related to how much salt the wife used?

MistressMorgan said...

So, the 14th Congress of the International Headache Society is just a giant excuse to get together and drink, right?

 
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