Science Is Scary
Evidence is the path to the truth. Maybe.
- Oct 17, 2019
- 87
If you want to make better decisions about your health, this book seems really helpful. The book is called Smart Health Choices: Making Sense of Health Advice by Les Irwig, Judy Irwig, Lyndal Trevena, and Melissa Sweet.
The book is free at the link I provided. It's on a government website, so I think it's a legal copy of the book.
My Too-Long-Didn't-Read (TLDR) Version:
The book is free at the link I provided. It's on a government website, so I think it's a legal copy of the book.
My Too-Long-Didn't-Read (TLDR) Version:
- Ask your doctors what the evidence says about how good and risky treatments are. Ideally, also do your own research. Compare the risks of treatment to the benefits. Sometimes doing nothing is better than treatment. And sometimes treatment is better than doing nothing.
- You don't always need to make a decision immediately. It may be okay to wait until you can find more information.
- Prefer evidence from systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) over personal stories from doctors and people you know (anecdotes). Chapter 12 discusses where to find systematic reviews.
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