NHS Choices has a new section called Behind the Headlines
which they say is committed to providing:
an unbiased and evidence-based analysis of health stories that make the news. It aims to respond to news stories the day they appear in the media.
Sir Muir Gray, the chief knowledge officer in the NHS, says this about the concept:
“Scientists hate disease and want see it conquered,” said Sir Muir. “But this can lead to them taking an overly optimistic view of their discoveries which is often reflected in newspaper headlines.
“Our service has more time to examine the science behind the stories. Independent experts check the findings and assess the research methods to provide a more considered view.”
They have had a look at the media reports that we covered here about the link between alcohol and STIs.
As well as looking at the media reporting they give a view about the research that led to the media interest and in this case and say:
This study documents the behaviours of a group of GUM clinic attenders. The authors acknowledge that without using a “control” population of drinkers who did not develop sexually transmitted diseases as a comparison, they are unable to say to what extent heavy alcohol use increases the risk of catching a sexually transmitted disease, currently in the UK.
It is worth bearing in mind some features of this study when interpreting the results:
- The study was based on a questionnaire. The questions asked in the clinic to determine alcohol consumption were not the same as those used by the GHS (the survey used to assess levels of drinking in the general population) and the setting in which the questions were are asked may have determined the responses given. In general, to be strictly comparable, the same questions would need to have been asked by the same researchers in the same way. In particular, the GHS is not designed to assess levels of binge drinking.
- The quantity of alcohol drunk in a population does not fall neatly around an average intake, it follows a “skewed distribution”. This means that while some people may drink a lot, there are many more people that drink small amounts. Although alcohol consumption appears to be higher in the clinic attenders than in the sample from the GHS, it is the pattern of drinking that is different between the two groups and the significance of this difference is not addressed.
- It is not clear where some of the figures in the study come from. For example when the researchers say that 76% of people answered yes to the question “Have you had unprotected sex as a result of drinking?” it is not clear how many people answered this question.
In general, this study highlights a link between two topics of growing concern, the solution proposed by researchers and reported by the newspapers also deserves to be studied rigorously.
It’s good to see the NHS trying to give us this sort of analysis and I hope it’ll become a useful tool for those of us wanting to look behind the headlines.
Filed under: alcohol , NHS Choices
