(www.improvingmedicalstatistics.com)                                          
      home   author    contact   web site dedication
  

......................m.........................

Specific guide to this web site for:

 1.  Medical School
      Educators 
      in Statistics

 2.  Medical Students

 3.  Science media writers

 4.  High School & College
     Statistic Teachers

   Misadventures:

1. Harvard led MI study

2. JACC study 
   (J. of Amer. Coll.
   Cardio.)

3. NEJM cath study

4. Amer. J. of Cardio.
    review of literature

5. ALLHAT
    controversy 

6. Oat bran study

7. Pregnancy & Alcohol

8. Are Geminis really
    different?
      
9. Columbia 'Miracle' Study  
                                                 

Additional Topics:

Celebrex

Limitations of Meta-Analyses

Large Randomized Clinical Trials

Tale of Two Large
Trials

Advocate meta-analyses

Network meta-analyses

J-Shaped Relationship Between Drinking During Pregnancy and Birth Weight: Reanalysis of  Prospective Epidemiological Data.    Abel E., Hannigan J.   Alcohol & Alcoholism 30: 345-355. 1995

This meta-analysis of prior studies studying the effect of alcohol on pregnancy came to the following conclusion.

"The effect (negative) of smoking is three times greater than the effect of alcohol. When the data were stratified by smoking status, maternal alcohol consumption did not have a significant effect on birth weight for non-smokers, but among smokers there was significant linear trend with a threshold for decreased birth weight at about an average of two drinks per day."--Abel et al

(As discussed elsewhere, meta-analyses can have their own potential limitations.)

back