Healthy Skepticism Library item: 15063

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Mintzes B.
Hormone therapy challenged
The Globe and Mail 2009 Jan 24
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090124.COLETTS24-5/TPStory/?query=barbara+mintzes

Full text:

If a model of airplane crashed more often than expected, what would happen if the manufacturer funded new guidelines saying the data on crashes had been reanalyzed, and short trips are perfectly safe (HRT Safe To Treat Menopause, MDs Say – Life, Jan. 23)? Would The Globe report “Airplane Safe For Short Trips, New Guidelines Say” without going into detail on the source of the funding for the guidelines?

The six authors of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada guidelines declare 59 conflicts of interest involving drug companies, mainly as speakers, consultants and advisory board members. Would the guidelines have been so critical of evidence of harm of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) had they been independent?

The Women’s Health Initiative, the large-scale study that showed an increase in breast cancer risk, heart disease and dementia with hormone therapy, remains the most rigorous scientific study yet on long-term health effects.

Just as many ways exist to cut a pie, there are many ways to split study results into subgroups and reanalyze results. It’s called “post hoc subgroup analysis” and is not a reliable source of scientific evidence, precisely because a pie can be cut so many ways. This is what SOGC relied on to claim HRT is so safe it should be offered to postmenopausal women with hot flushes.