Wednesday, July 21, 2004

crimes of science reporting, suicide edition

Compare today's NYT account of the same study whose CNN/AP report I discussed in my last post. Even after I double-checked the names of the study's authors, I wasn't sure they were talking about the same study. I double checked the current issue of JAMA to make sure. The NYT article has a much better grasp of what the stronger implications of the study are, which is that there doesn't appear to be any difference among four major antidepressants for suicidal ideation/behavior risks. But compare and contrast: the difference between the two stories, at least to my reading, is both remarkable and weird.

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