BMJ 2002;325:1437-1438 ( 21 December )

Editorials

Data dredging, bias, or confounding

They can all get you into the BMJ and the Friday papers

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

On 4 October 2002, women who were moderate drinkers received good news: their risk of breast cancer was not raised, according to a report in the Lancet that was widely covered by the British media.¹ The bad news was that smoking at an early age was now implicated as a risk factor for breast cancer. However, after they had enjoyed guilt-free drinks (without cigarettes) for only a few days, on 13 November the message was reversed: alcohol did increase the risk of breast cancer after all, but smoking was declared innocent.² The press release proclaimed "Alcohol, tobacco and breast cancer: the definitive answer." A reader was driven to complain in the letters page of the Guardian (14 November 2002): "So let me get this rightalcohol's no good anymore, and if you smoked within five years of getting your periods, that's bad news too. Oh no, that was a couple of weeks ago; smoking's . . . [Full text of this article]

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Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Informing the public about controversies

Anthony Lwegaba
bmj.com, 6 Jan 2003 [Full text]

Epidemiology needs to be taken seriously

Ralf Reintjes
bmj.com, 7 Jan 2003 [Full text]