Study finds medical studies often wrong

CHICAGO – Here’s some medical news you can trust: A new study confirms that what doctors once said was good for you often turns out to be bad – or at least not as great as initially thought.

The report is a review of major studies published in three influential medical journals between 1990 and 2003, including 45 highly publicized studies that initially claimed a drug or other treatment worked.

Subsequent research contradicted results of seven studies – 16 percent – and reported weaker results for seven others, an additional 16 percent. That means nearly one-third of the original results did not hold up, according to the study in today’s Journal of the American Medical Association.

“Contradicted and potentially exaggerated findings are not uncommon in the most visible and most influential original clinical research,” said study author Dr. John Ioannidis, a researcher at the University of Ioannina in Greece.

Experts say the study is a reminder to doctors and patients that they should not put too much stock in a single study and understand that treatments often become obsolete with medical advances.

“A single study is not the final word, and that is an important message,” editors at the New England Journal of Medicine said in a statement about the study.