There Are So Many Dubious Health Websites Out There That Even Medical Professionals Can Get Confused
Experts offer tips on how to tell the difference between a quality site and one full of misinformation. In other quality news, a new study finds that very few medical journals report conflicts of interest held by their editorial staffs.
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Health Websites Are Notoriously Misleading. So We Rated Their Reliability
For millions of Americans, including health professionals, the resurgence of measles is a confounding and frightening development. How can a disease declared eliminated nearly two decades ago come back when it can be prevented with a vaccine proven to be safe and effective? But that’s not the reality for those getting their health information from online sources such as NaturalNews.com, one of many health-focused sites that peddle false and misleading claims to large audiences. (Gregory, 7/26)
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Few Medical Journals Disclose Conflicts Held By Their Editorial Teams
Although professional journals wield substantial influence over medical research and practice, very few of the publications report conflicts of interest held by their editorial staffs, potentially undermining confidence in the role they play in medicine, a new study finds. To wit, 129 of 130 high-impact medical journals that were reviewed required authors to disclose conflicts, but only 16 of those same journals — or 12% — reported potential conflicts held by individual editors. Meanwhile, in half of 26 journal categories examined — mostly, medical specialties — not one journal provided public disclosure of conflicts held by individual editors. (Silverman, 7/26)
