Ironing out kinks in the evidence base

Pity poor Terry Hamblin. In 1981 in The BMJ the haematologist from Bournemouth set out to debunk claims about the iron content of spinach. Years later he realised his work contained a major inaccuracy, and he spent the rest of his life trying to kill the myth. It was too late: an academic urban legend had been born.Nicholas Peoples and colleagues focus on the scourge of citations that are inappropriate, misleading, missing, or just plain wrong (doi:10.1136/bmj-2023-076441).1 Such citations can send you down a rabbit hole of references and, at worst, allow “incorrect ideas to masquerade as facts.” Far worse than denting Popeye’s image, misrepresentation in the medical literature can help create conditions for tragedy, they argue.For example, the North American opioid crisis was aided by a narrative that alleviated prescribers’ concerns about long term use and addiction. That crisis continues: harm reduction experts in the UK are urging the…
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