|
Epi Wit & Wisdom Articles
Science Article Critical of
Epidemiology Triggers Responses Among Epidemiologists (2 of 6)
The Science article entitled
“Epidemiology Faces Its Limits” which appeared in the July 14 issue
has engendered discussion within the epidemiology community. A special
seminar was held on the subject at Johns Hopkins, a commentary by
Ernst Wynder, the editor of Preventive Medicine and head of the
American Health Foundation, is scheduled to be published in the
American Journal of Epidemiology, and a letter to the editors of
Science has been published from the International Society for
Environmental Epidemiology. This follows an earlier letter by many of
the epidemiologists quoted in the article and other interested
readers.
In an interview with the Epi
Monitor, Wynder explained that he was angered by the Science piece and
prompted to write a commentary. He attributes some of the shortcomings
listed in the article not to epidemiology but to poor application of
its methods. “We must not throw out the baby with the bath water,” he
said. Wynder is not one who believes investigators need to find an
odds ratio of 3 or 4 for the findings to be significant. Even an odds
ratio of 1.2 or 1.3 could be important if good work was done, he said.
Wynder noted that journals and
investigators have a strong bias in favor of positive findings and
will put a “positive” spin on their results to get attention for their
papers. “Epidemiologists are like politicians,” he said, “we want the
most spin—a positive one when the risk factors relate to disease and a
negative one when the risk factors are environmental. This gives
epidemiology a black eye.”
When asked about remedies,
Wynder stressed the importance of interpreting all findings in the
light of the criteria for causation. If we are more careful,
epidemiology will not fail us, he said. Also, he called for reviewers
to use checklists in examining papers to make sure they pay attention
to details.
In his letter to Science, Allan
Smith, President of the ISEE, noted that “many good points were raised
in the article, but that it focused primarily on problems.” He called
for Science to publish an article which presents the strengths and
achievements of environmental epidemiology.”
Published February 1996 v
|
