The author, Valerie Seagroatt, statistician states:-
"I restrictedthe
analysis to emergency admissions as these were probablyless
susceptible to changes in thresholds for admission andclinical
practice than elective admissions."
This method pretty much guarantees that data relating to any ASD child,
including PDD diagnosed child with Crohn's disease was not included in
the study.
The likelihood of
anything for any of
these children being diagnosed during an emergency admission is less
than that of a
somewhat small snowflake in a somewhat much larger hell fire. It
can
take four people to hold some of these children down just to take a
blood test. The one problem
parents of these children have had is that they have
not been able to get proper diagnoses of their childrens'
ailments. The failure of paediatric medicine and the NHS in this
context is a common cause of complaint. Many complain they can
get no treatment of any kind from the
NHS for their children and that is particularly for those children with
the most distressing disintegrative disorders.
In the circumstances the statement that emergency admissions 'were
probably less susceptible to changes in thresholds for admission and
clinical practice' has to be questioned. On what science is such
an
assumption based? Where are the references. How was this
assumption
validated?
Most importantly, why was this assumption made in the first place when
anyone familiar with the issues over MMR caused autism-like and other
conditions would know immediately it was invalid.
This new paper is a good example of why it is necessary to be wary of
people stepping outside their
usual areas of expertise to hold forth on topics which may not be as
close to
their fields as might be desirable. This paper is also an example
of why 'peer review' is of extremely limited value. In fact 'peer
review' only occurs after publication and in other disciplines the
process is referred to as refereeing and not peer reviewing.
Rapid Response:
How to find no MMR link -exclude all cases from the study
Dear Sir,
HOW TO FIND NO MMR LINK -
EXCLUDE ALL
CASES FROM THE STUDY
Regrettably, this study "MMR
vaccine and Crohn's disease: ecological study of hospital admissions in
England, 1991 to 2002" [1] like some others seeking to cast doubt on
the causal link between MMR, autism and related disorders seems
self-confounding based on a deeply flawed method and possibly limited
understanding of the subject-matter under study.
The author, Valerie Seagroatt,
statistician states:-
analysis to emergency admissions as these were probablyless
susceptible to changes in thresholds for admission andclinical
practice than elective admissions."
This method pretty much guarantees that data relating to any ASD child,
including PDD diagnosed child with Crohn's disease was not included in
the study.
The likelihood of
anything for any of
these children being diagnosed during an emergency admission is less
than that of a
somewhat small snowflake in a somewhat much larger hell fire. It
can
take four people to hold some of these children down just to take a
blood test. The one problem
parents of these children have had is that they have
not been able to get proper diagnoses of their childrens'
ailments. The failure of paediatric medicine and the NHS in this
context is a common cause of complaint. Many complain they can
get no treatment of any kind from the
NHS for their children and that is particularly for those children with
the most distressing disintegrative disorders.
In the circumstances the statement that emergency admissions 'were
probably less susceptible to changes in thresholds for admission and
clinical practice' has to be questioned. On what science is such
an
assumption based? Where are the references. How was this
assumption
validated?
Most importantly, why was this assumption made in the first place when
anyone familiar with the issues over MMR caused autism-like and other
conditions would know immediately it was invalid.
This new paper is a good example of why it is necessary to be wary of
people stepping outside their
usual areas of expertise to hold forth on topics which may not be as
close to
their fields as might be desirable. This paper is also an example
of why 'peer review' is of extremely limited value. In fact 'peer
review' only occurs after publication and in other disciplines the
process is referred to as refereeing and not peer reviewing.
1] MMR
vaccine and Crohn's disease: ecological study of hospital admissions in
England, 1991 to 2002 Valerie Seagroatt, statistician1
of Health-Care Epidemiology, Department of Public Health, University of
Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LF
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests