Overdiagnosis in publicly organised mammography screening programmes: systematic review of incidence trends

Objective To estimate the extent of overdiagnosis (the detection of cancers that will not cause death or symptoms) in publicly organised screening programmes

Acupuncture treatment for pain: systematic review of randomised clinical trials with acupuncture, placebo acupuncture, and no acupuncture groups

Objectives To study the analgesic effect of acupuncture and placebo acupuncture and to explore whether the type of the placebo acupuncture is associated with the estimated effect of acupuncture

Readers as research detectives

Flaws in research papers are common but it may require arduous detective work to unravel them. Checklists are helpful, but many inconsistencies will only be revealed through repeated cross-checks of every little detail, just like in a crime case. As a major deterrent for dishonesty, raw data from all trials should be posted on a public website. This would also make it much easier to detect errors and flaws in publications, and it would allow many research projects to be performed without collecting new data. The prevailing culture of secrecy and ownership to data is not in the best interests of patients

Regular Health Checks: Cross-Sectional Survey

Objective: To investigate whether Danish providers of general health checks present a balanced account of possible benefits and harms on their websites and whether the health checks are evidence-based. Methods and Design: Cross-sectional study. The search engines Google and Jubii (Danish) were in July and August 2009 used to identify 56 websites using Danish search terms for ‘‘health check’ ’ and ‘‘health examination’’. The content of the websites were evaluated using a checklist with 15 officially recommended information items. All tests offered through the websites were registered. The evidence for tests offered through at least 10 % of the websites was identified in structured searches using PubMed and The Cochrane Library. Results: We found 36 different tests on 56 websites offering health checks. Twenty one tests were offered on at least 10 % of the websites. Seventeen (81%) of these tests were unsupported by evidence, or there was evidence against them for screening purposes. We found evidence supporting screening using body-mass-index, blood pressure, cholesterol, and faecal occult blood testing. None of the websites mentioned possible risks or harms. The websites presented a median of 1 of the 15 information items; the highest number from any provider was 2. Conclusions: Information from Danish providers of health checks was sparse and tests were often offered against existing evidence or despite lack of evidence. None of the included websites mentioned potential risks or harms

Adequacy of authors’ replies to criticism raised in electronic letters to the editor: cohort study

Objective To investigate whether substantive criticism in electronic letters to the editor, defined as a problem that could invalidate the research or reduce its reliability, is adequately addressed by the authors

Inconsistent reporting of surrogate outcomes in randomised clinical trials: cohort study

Objective To assess if authors of randomised clinical trials convey the fact that they have used surrogate outcomes and discussed their validity