Medical Misinformation
2019; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; Volume: 139; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1161/circulationaha.118.039193
ISSN1524-4539
AutoresJoseph A. Hill, Stefan Agewall, Adrián Baranchuk, George W. Booz, Jeffrey Borer, Paolo G. Camici, Peng‐Sheng Chen, Anna F. Dominiczak, Çetin Erol, Cindy L. Grines, Robert J. Gropler, Tomasz J. Guzik, Markus Heinemann, Ami E. Iskandrian, Bradley P. Knight, Barry London, Thomas F. Lüscher, Marco Metra, Kiran Musunuru, Brahmajee K. Nallamothu, Andrea Natale, Sanjeev Saksena, Michael H. Picard, Sunil V. Rao, Willem J. Remme, Robert S. Rosenson, Nancy K. Sweitzer, Adam Timmis, Christiaan Vrints,
Tópico(s)Media Influence and Politics
ResumoHomeCirculationVol. 139, No. 5Medical Misinformation EditorialPDF/EPUBAboutView PDFView EPUBSections ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload citationsTrack citationsPermissions ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InMendeleyReddit Jump toEditorialPDF/EPUBMedical MisinformationVet the Message! Joseph A. Hill, MD, PhD, Stefan Agewall, MD, PhD, Adrian Baranchuk, MD, George W. Booz, PhD, Jeffrey S. Borer, MD, Paolo G. Camici, MD, Peng-Sheng Chen, MD, Anna F. Dominiczak, DBE, MD, Çetin Erol, MD, PhD, Cindy L. Grines, MD, Robert Gropler, MD, Tomasz J. Guzik, MD, PhD, Markus K. Heinemann, MD, PhD, Ami E. Iskandrian, MD, Bradley P. Knight, MD, Barry London, MD, PhD, Thomas F. Lüscher, MD, Marco Metra, MD, Kiran Musunuru, MD, PhD, MPH, Brahmajee K. Nallamothu, MD, MPH, Andrea Natale, MD, Sanjeev Saksena, MD, Michael H. Picard, MD, Sunil V. Rao, MD, Willem J. Remme, MD, PhD, Robert S. Rosenson, MD, Nancy K. Sweitzer, MD, PhD, Adam Timmis, MD and Christiaan Vrints, MD, PhD Joseph A. HillJoseph A. Hill Joseph A. Hill, MD, PhD, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Internal Medicine, NB11.200, UT Southwestern, 6000 Harry Hines Blvd, Dallas, TX 75390-8573. Email E-mail Address: [email protected] , Stefan AgewallStefan Agewall , Adrian BaranchukAdrian Baranchuk , George W. BoozGeorge W. Booz , Jeffrey S. BorerJeffrey S. Borer , Paolo G. CamiciPaolo G. Camici , Peng-Sheng ChenPeng-Sheng Chen , Anna F. DominiczakAnna F. Dominiczak , Çetin ErolÇetin Erol , Cindy L. GrinesCindy L. Grines , Robert GroplerRobert Gropler , Tomasz J. GuzikTomasz J. Guzik , Markus K. HeinemannMarkus K. Heinemann , Ami E. IskandrianAmi E. Iskandrian , Bradley P. KnightBradley P. Knight , Barry LondonBarry London , Thomas F. LüscherThomas F. Lüscher , Marco MetraMarco Metra , Kiran MusunuruKiran Musunuru , Brahmajee K. NallamothuBrahmajee K. Nallamothu , Andrea NataleAndrea Natale , Sanjeev SaksenaSanjeev Saksena , Michael H. PicardMichael H. Picard , Sunil V. RaoSunil V. Rao , Willem J. RemmeWillem J. Remme , Robert S. RosensonRobert S. Rosenson , Nancy K. SweitzerNancy K. Sweitzer , Adam TimmisAdam Timmis and Christiaan VrintsChristiaan Vrints Originally published28 Jan 2019https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.118.039193Circulation. 2019;139:571–572Other version(s) of this articleYou are viewing the most recent version of this article. Previous versions: January 28, 2019: Ahead of Print "Mrs. Jones, based on your risk factors for having a heart attack, I recommend that we start you on a statin.""No, thank you, Doctor, I've read too many scary things about those drugs on the internet. Plus, I worry that some in your profession make these recommendations for reasons of personal financial gain. I also found that online."Undoubtedly, the majority of cardiologists have had conversations just like this, urging a patient to take a statin, a powerful cholesterol-lowering drug with robust mortality benefit. Part of the reason these oftentimes no-brainer recommendations are rejected derives from widely disseminated incorrect information that vastly overstates the risks of these drugs. (Of course, like anything in life, the use of statins is not entirely risk-free; their application should always entail a thoughtful analysis of risks versus benefits.) Most patients do not recognize that the benefits of statin use are invisible ("I didn't have a heart attack or stroke this past year"), whereas the small and typically reversible risks (eg, muscle pain) are readily apparent. Many patients who would benefit from statin use do not take them.Cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 killer of both men and women around the world. Robust scientific advances, published in the pages of our journals, have fostered significant improvements that benefit individuals and society. Yet, cardiovascular disease continues to transform itself, emerging in new forms, such as heart failure. The struggle has shifted to new battlefields.These successes derive from an armamentarium of powerful tools, medicines, devices, and awareness of lifestyle-related hazards, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and smoking. Sadly, however, we do not take full advantage of the tools at our disposal.One significant cause of suboptimal utilization of our prodigious tool chest is medical misinformation hyped through the internet, television, chat rooms, and social media. In many instances, celebrities, activists, and politicians convey false information; not uncommonly, authors with purely venal motives participate.We can point to numerous other examples, including the entirely unfounded concerns regarding vaccinations. The notion that MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccination causes autism was based on a single flawed study, long since refuted, with its publication retracted. Seventeen much larger and properly controlled studies have proven otherwise. Nevertheless, the internet shouts unfounded warnings. Once again, celebrities, actors, activists, and politicians with no specific knowledge or training use their fame to promote a message that causes serious harm. Individuals who are neither physicians nor scientists, but often with a specific agenda, have outsized influence over our lives. They dispute scientific evidence without ever having studied it.1Recognizing that it is impossible to prove "never," scientists appropriately couch their statements in statistical terms, which may come across to the public as equivocation. The nuanced voices of scientists often do not resonate with the public as much as the strident alarms sounded by people of fame, speaking in absolute terms.Furthermore, scientists are appropriately skeptical, because any individual scientist or study can be wrong. Yet, science ultimately self-corrects. When a scientist gets it wrong, as happens, people sometimes vilify the entire self-correcting scientific enterprise. We trust aeronautical science when we board an airplane; we trust the science buried within our cell phones; we trust mechanical engineering science when we cross a bridge; yet, many are uniquely skeptical of biological science.Sadly, we cannot exclude that some in the professions of science and medicine act based on motives driven by financial considerations; incomplete declarations of potential conflict of interest persist.2 Recent examples of dramatic price hikes for important medications have reinforced this notion. Indeed, many physicians have had conversations with patients who believe that our recommendations stem, at least in part, from the prospect of personal financial gain.We, the editors-in-chief of the major cardiovascular scientific journals around the globe, sound the alarm that human lives are at stake. Pointing to the 2 examples elaborated above, people who decline to use a statin when recommended by their doctor, or parents who withhold vaccines from their children, put lives in harm's way.The media must do a better job. It is unacceptable to posit false equivalents in these discussions, often done to foster debate and controversy. It is easy to find a rogue voice but inappropriate to suggest that voice carries the same weight as that emerging from mainstream science. (We can easily point to examples outside the medical domain, as well, such as climate change, evolution, nutraceuticals, and genetically modified foods, where false equivalents are frequently posited.) Furthermore, recent evidence suggests that misinformation travels faster through social networks than truth.3 We must work to enhance science literacy in our world; one place to start is by doing a better job of teaching the scientific method in our schools so that the lay public is aware that science is accomplished in fits and starts, but, in the end, gets it right.Purveyors of social media must be responsible for the content they disseminate. It is no longer acceptable to hide behind the cloak of platform. We, as editors, are charged with evaluating the validity of the science presented to us for possible publication, and we work hard to fulfill this heady responsibility. Recognizing that lives are at stake, we reach out to thought-leading experts to evaluate the veracity of each report we receive. Here, we challenge social media to do the same, to leverage the ready availability of science-conversant expertise before disseminating content that may not be reliable.Without exaggeration, significant harm, to society and individuals, derives from the wanton spread of medical misinformation. It is high time that this stop, and we lay at the feet of the purveyors of internet and social media content the responsibility to fix this.DisclosuresP.G. Camici is consultant for Servier. R.S. Rosenson reports research grants to his institutions from Akcea, Amgen, Astra Zeneca, Medicines Company, and Regeneron. R.S. Rosenson reports speaking engagements at Amgen and Kowa, research consulting for Akcea and Regeneron, royalties from UpToDate, Inc. and stock holdings in MediMergent. The other authors report no conficts of interest.FootnotesThe opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those of the editors or of the American Heart Association.A complete list of all journals publishing this article, along with links to the individual articles, can be found online at https://www.ahajournals.org/circ/medical-misinformationhttps://www.ahajournals.org/journal/circJoseph A. Hill, MD, PhD, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Internal Medicine, NB11.200, UT Southwestern, 6000 Harry Hines Blvd, Dallas, TX 75390-8573. Email joseph.[email protected]eduReferences1. Offit PA. Bad Advice: Or Why Celebrities, Politicians, and Activists Aren't Your Best Source of Health Information. New York: Columbia University Press; 2018.CrossrefGoogle Scholar2. Orenstein C, Thomas K. Top cancer researcher fails to disclose corporate financial ties in major research journals.New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/08/health/jose-baselga-cancer-memorial-sloan-kettering.html. September 8, 2018. Accessed December 11, 2018.Google Scholar3. Vosoughi S, Roy D, Aral S. The spread of true and false news online.Science. 2018; 359:1146–1151. doi: 10.1126/science.aap9559CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar Previous Back to top Next FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsCited By Pedretti R, Hansen D, Ambrosetti M, Back M, Berger T, Ferreira M, Cornelissen V, Davos C, Doehner W, de Pablo y Zarzosa C, Frederix I, Greco A, Kurpas D, Michal M, Osto E, Pedersen S, Salvador R, Simonenko M, Steca P, Thompson D, Wilhelm M and Abreu A (2022) How to optimize the adherence to a guideline-directed medical therapy in the secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases: a clinical consensus statement from the European Association of Preventive Cardiology, European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 10.1093/eurjpc/zwac204, 30:2, (149-166), Online publication date: 24-Jan-2023. Gill G, Latif A, Hilleman D, Lavie C and Alla V (2022) Challenges in Implementing Evidence Based Cross-Disciplinary Therapies: Are Cardiovascular Specialists Ready to Claim SGLT-2 Inhibitors and GLP-1 Analogs?, Current Problems in Cardiology, 10.1016/j.cpcardiol.2021.100878, 47:7, (100878), Online publication date: 1-Jul-2022. Maitra N, Mahtta D, Navaneethan S, Vaughan E, Kochar A, Gulati M, Levine G, Petersen L and Virani S (2022) A Mistake Not to Be Repeated: What Can We Learn from the Underutilization of Statin Therapy for Efficient Dissemination of Cardioprotective Glucose Lowering Agents?, Current Cardiology Reports, 10.1007/s11886-022-01694-5, 24:6, (689-698), Online publication date: 1-Jun-2022. Zhang L, Wang W, Man F, Pan Q and Guo L (2022) The effect of statin adherence on patients with type 2 diabetes after percutaneous coronary intervention for acute coronary syndrome, Cardiovascular Drugs and Therapy, 10.1007/s10557-021-07260-5 Vasudevan J and Alathur S (2022) Vaccine Hesitancy to Vaccine Hope: Comparison of MR Vaccine and COVID Vaccine Trends in India Proceedings of the International Conference on Cognitive and Intelligent Computing, 10.1007/978-981-19-2350-0_77, (819-825), . Han J, Baykaner T, DeSimone C, Etheridge S, Futyma P, Saha S, Stiles M, Gopinathannair R, Kabra R and Merchant F (2021) Virtual Transformation and the Use of Social Media: Cardiac Electrophysiology Education in the Post-COVID-19 Era, Current Treatment Options in Cardiovascular Medicine, 10.1007/s11936-021-00948-9, 23:11, Online publication date: 1-Nov-2021. Trethewey S, Beck K and Symonds R (2020) Experience and perspectives of primary care practitioners on the credibility assessment of health-related information online, Postgraduate Medical Journal, 10.1136/postgradmedj-2020-138111, 97:1151, (608-610), Online publication date: 1-Oct-2021. Russell N (2021) Misinformation During COVID: How Should Nurse Practitioners Respond?, The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 10.1016/j.nurpra.2021.03.013, 17:6, (763-764), Online publication date: 1-Jun-2021. Leiherer A, Ulmer H, Muendlein A, Saely C, Vonbank A, Fraunberger P, Foeger B, Brandtner E, Brozek W, Nagel G, Zitt E, Drexel H and Concin H (2021) Value of total cholesterol readings earlier versus later in life to predict cardiovascular risk, EBioMedicine, 10.1016/j.ebiom.2021.103371, 67, (103371), Online publication date: 1-May-2021. Kondo Y (2021) Patients' Informational Needs for Pharmacotherapy and Health Literacy医薬品情報に関する患者のニーズとヘルスリテラシー, YAKUGAKU ZASSHI, 10.1248/yakushi.20-00207-3, 141:3, (387-391), Online publication date: 1-Mar-2021. Rosenson R, Colantonio L and Goonewardena S (2020) Optimizing Cholesterol Management Improves the Benefits of Percutaneous Coronary Intervention, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 10.1016/j.jacc.2020.07.050, 76:12, (1451-1454), Online publication date: 1-Sep-2020. Manchaiah V, Bellon-Harn M, Kelly-Campbell R, Beukes E, Bailey A and Pyykkő I (2020) Media Use by Older Adults With Hearing Loss: An Exploratory Survey, American Journal of Audiology, 10.1044/2020_AJA-19-00039, 29:2, (218-225), Online publication date: 8-Jun-2020. Preiss D, Tobert J, Hovingh G and Reith C (2020) Lipid-Modifying Agents, From Statins to PCSK9 Inhibitors, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 10.1016/j.jacc.2019.11.072, 75:16, (1945-1955), Online publication date: 1-Apr-2020. Trethewey S (2019) Strategies to combat medical misinformation on social media, Postgraduate Medical Journal, 10.1136/postgradmedj-2019-137201, 96:1131, (4-6), Online publication date: 1-Jan-2020. Rosenson R (2020) Definitions of Statin-Associated Muscle Symptoms Statin-Associated Muscle Symptoms, 10.1007/978-3-030-33304-1_4, (27-33), . Cannon C (2019) Don't stop the statin!, European Heart Journal, 10.1093/eurheartj/ehz629, 40:43, (3526-3528), Online publication date: 14-Nov-2019. Trethewey S (2019) Medical Misinformation on Social Media, Circulation, 140:14, (1131-1133), Online publication date: 1-Oct-2019. Dixon D, Sharma G, Sandesara P, Yang E, Braun L, Mensah G, Sperling L, Deedwania P and Virani S (2019) Therapeutic Inertia in Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 10.1016/j.jacc.2019.08.014, 74:13, (1728-1731), Online publication date: 1-Oct-2019. Armstrong P and Naylor C (2019) Counteracting Health Misinformation, JAMA, 10.1001/jama.2019.5168, 321:19, (1863), Online publication date: 21-May-2019. Çinier G, Haseeb S, Yeung C, Gul E, Alexander B, Tse G, Alvarez-Garcia J, Cruz D, Bazoukis G, Liu T, Perez-Alday E, Garcia-Zamora S and Baranchuk A (2019) International Society of Electrocardiology Young Community, Journal of Electrocardiology, 10.1016/j.jelectrocard.2019.03.001, 54, (69-71), Online publication date: 1-May-2019. Guzik T and Ahluwalia A (2019) Plan S: In service or disservice to society?, British Journal of Pharmacology, 10.1111/bph.14590, 176:6, (753-756), Online publication date: 1-Mar-2019. January 29, 2019Vol 139, Issue 5 Advertisement Article InformationMetrics © 2019 The Authors. Circulation is published on behalf of the American Heart Association, Inc., by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.118.039193PMID: 30689419 Originally publishedJanuary 28, 2019 KeywordsEditorialsvaccinationsocial mediainformation disseminationcommunicationcardiovascular diseasesPDF download Advertisement
Referência(s)