The average medical news report on local TV stations lasts for only 33 seconds, which means that reporters have very little time to explain the details of a study, let alone discuss which of their listeners it might actually affect.
Did you get your dose of medical news today? Print and broadcast news serve up a daily feast of health news, including frequent reports on prescription drugs. Sometimes you learn that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug; sometimes you hear that research has revealed unexpected side effects of an old drug. The question is whether -- and how -- to make use of medical news that the media dispenses.
An intelligent answer requires considering one basic fact about the news media: It’s their job to tell you what’s new, but "newsworthy” information is not always "news you can use.”
You can glean useful information about drugs from the media if you keep the following four questions in mind:
Drug tip 1 -- What type of study was involved? Keep in mind the critical difference between an experimental drug working on a culture of isolated cells and a major clinical trial involving thousands of patients. A preliminary experimental study searching for a biological effect that might affect a disease is a long shot that only rarely -- and slowly -- leads to a new drug that might help you, the patient. Experimental drugs that have cured cancer or kidney disease in inbred mice may never make it to a pharmacy shelf.
Drug tip 2 -- For whom does a new drug offer a clear benefit? How much of a benefit would it offer, compared with drugs already on the market?
Drug tip 3 -- What are most common or most serious side effects of the drug? Who is most likely to experience these drug side effects?
Drug tip 4 -- What is the bottom line for you, as an individual? Is there evidence that the drug is “better” enough to prompt your doctor to change the drug you are currently taking? Is the potential benefit worth the risk of already known side effects or currently unknown side effects likely to be recognized only after much greater use among thousands of patients?
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