Good reminders for how to read health news

I just read a pretty good article in PubMed Health ("Information on conditions and treatments from the world's largest medical library. Find out what works."). It's called, How to read health news. Pretty basic stuff, true, but for the health news reading public, also pretty good.

Questions to ask include:

• Does the article support its claims with scientific research?
• Is the article based on a conference abstract?
• Was the research in humans?
• How many people did the research study include?
• Did the study have a control group?
• Did the study actually assess what’s in the headline?
• Who paid for and conducted the study?

PubMed Health has a nice section called "Behind the Headlines: Fact or Fiction? Your guide to the science behind health stories in the news," as well as review articles, and information on clinical effectiveness research. Recommended!

Image by Jaysin Trevino via Flickr