The sciences of statistics and systematic analysis applied to the causes of health and disease.
Questions tagged [epidemiology]
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Did the Black Lives Matter protests fail to cause a spike in coronavirus cases?
Multiple reputable news organizations have been reporting on a study suggesting the 2020 "Black Lives Matter protests" did not contribute to the increase of the Covid-19 pandemic. Some have even suggested that it may have slowed down the spread of…
OperatingChown
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Is COVID-19 more dangerous than typical annual coronavirus variants?
I have heard many people claim in private that COVID-19 is not worse than flu and that the reaction is overblown.
As a poster-child example of this, I want to analyze the claims made by the German pulmonologist Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg in this video.…
Nobody moving away from SE
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Are electronic cigarettes a healthier alternative to regular cigarettes?
Electronic cigarettes pose as a replacement of cigarettes. It is claimed that they help in quitting smoking. They do come in flavors, and in various levels of nicotine.
But, are they less harmful? Do they have any side effects?
For example, Health…
Micangello
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Is the placebo effect getting stronger?
There has recently been a row about the marketing of pain killers. The makers of Nurofen have been accused of selling the same formulation at different prices for different conditions and claiming in advertising that they are "targeted" at…
matt_black
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Can oral sex cause throat cancer?
(somebody had to ask this)
Micheal Douglas, who was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2010, said in a recent interview with the Guardian:
Asked whether he now regretted his years of smoking and drinking, usually thought to be the cause of the…
matt_black
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Has the flu already killed 20,000 Americans during 2019-20 flu season?
Fox News has this article titled "Flu has killed 20K Americans including 136 children so far [as of March 2020] in this [2019-20] flu season, CDC says".
The CDC said that so far this season, 34 million people have gotten the flu, and about 20,000…
user100487
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Do surgical masks help prevent the spread of COVID-19 from infected members of the public?
One of the most politicised scientific issues of 2020 was the question about whether face-masks stop the spread of COVID-19.
Here are some specific examples:
Australian Department of Health (generalised to "masks")
Mayo Clinic
Science Daily
Tweet…
Oddthinking
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Does eating meat increase your risk for cancer?
I just read an article in the german magazine "Der Spiegel" about a recent study claiming that 40% of all cancers are preventable. The article states specifically that one of the factors is the consumption of red meat:
Der Mangel an Früchten und…
Mad Scientist
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Do societies that are less abstemious have more sensible drinking patterns?
Questions about whether alcohol consumption is good for you or not have been asked here before (see Is alcohol beneficial in small amounts? and Recommended alcohol drinking quantity: are they just making it up? ).
But a recent review of the evidence…
matt_black
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Does Texas have the worst maternal mortality in the developed world?
A 2016 article in the Guardian claims that Texas has seen a doubling in the maternal mortality rate after the closure of 80 family planning centres giving obstetric and gynaecology advice to pregnant women. In the words of the article:
The rate of…
matt_black
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Is there an epidemic of cancer?
It is nearly 50 years since Rachel Carson's Silent Spring was published where she popularised a belief that we are all being poisoned by artificial chemicals.
For the first time in the history of the world, every human being is now subjected to…
matt_black
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Is there a correlation between vaccination levels and new COVID-19 cases?
In the study Increases in COVID-19 are unrelated to levels of vaccination across 68 countries and 2947 counties in the United States, it is claimed that there is no relation between vaccination and increase in COVID-19 cases. Already in the title it…
Hartmut Braun
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Are two thirds of cancer mutations random and unavoidable?
The internet is full of cures for cancer and the medical literature (and many newspaper headlines) are full of claims about which specific lifestyle factors make cancer more likely. Some cancers are known to be strongly related to lifestyle (smoking…
matt_black
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Are most published results relying on measures of statistical significance likely to be false?
This article, linked to by Glen, claims most published results are false. The argument is based on an analysis of how papers relying on statistical significance analyse and report their statistical results and is bolstered by related arguments about…
Casebash
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Is red meat responsible for one in ten early deaths?
The red meat and cancer link has already been addressed here: Does eating meat increase your risk for cancer? But recent reports suggest a broader more worrying relationship to variety of other causes of death.
The Guardian reports the study…
matt_black
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