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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


 

 

 

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Introduction:  Back in the 1970s, there was not a widespread public perception that low level ingestion of alcoholic beverages during pregnancy resulted in harm to the developing infant.  

A study was subsequently published in JAMA in 1984 titled “Maternal Alcohol Consumption and Birth Weight-How Much Drinking During Pregnancy Is Safe?”1.  The data that the authors presented seemed to suggest a different conclusion from what the authors proposed. 

The authors suggested that low level alcohol ingestion resulted in low birth weight infants, even in nonsmokers.  

A direct review of the data in this study suggested that a low level alcohol intake in nonsmokers did not significantly adversely affect infant birth weight.   

(This contrasted to low level alcohol ingestion in smokers which appeared to be associated with a possible trend for lower infant birth weight.)  A letter was submitted and published in JAMA suggesting a different interpretation of the data.2

1. Mills JL, Graubard BI, Harley EE, et al. Maternal alcohol consumption and birth weight: How much drinking during pregnancy is safe? JAMA 1984:252:1875-1879

2. Roehm E.  Letter, Maternal alcohol consumption and birth weight. JAMA 1985:253:3551


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