A Scientific Look at What You Read

When you hear about a new scientific study, it's important to understand the different goals of the news media and of scientists. News reporters want to tell about exciting new information that has never been released. Scientists are involved in an ongoing discovery, with incremental steps toward understanding diseases and developing more effective treatments. The process by which scientific inquiry develops into a new treatment is just that - a process. Findings can be presented in scientific journals at many stages in their development - from laboratory experiments to human trials - and that stage can affect what is reported and how.

One challenge to understanding reports is to know the difference between what may be useful to you now and what will not be clinically useful for years to come. Be cautious when interpreting news stories of "magic bullet" cures that sound too good to be true, or that use the words "breakthrough" and "cure." Learn basic scientific terms and words describing how the research was done.

Remember, too, study results may not apply to you. For example, certain risk factors apply specifically to people in certain age, racial or ethnic groups and occupations, or to people with genetic predispositions, or other factors. When considering treatment, you should realize that most studies focus on patients with a specific type, and sometimes stage, of cancer, and the success in treating one specific group may not apply to people with other cancers.

It helps to know how the study was conducted, and how its results may have been influenced by who or what was studied. Studies can be characterized by whether they were done on humans or not, and what the study is intended to examine. For example, risk factors determined by epidemiologic studies identify and analyze lifestyle, diet, and individual factors such as genetics in a given population. These studies can also study the effect of interventions to remove certain risk factors in a given population. Studies of disease may take place in non-human systems such as bacteria, or on human or animal tissues. Treatments may be studied in non-human systems, in human or animal tissues or cells, or in human clinical trials.

The size of study, whether it backs up or contradicts another study, and the length of time covered are also important factors in considering how much weight to give a new finding.

Where Scientific Research Is Coming From

Learn the source of the study. Studies which appear in peer-reviewed journals are considered credible sources of information. Peer review means the study was evaluated by scientists working in the same field in which the research was done, and it offers the most credibility to the study. A few examples of peer reviewed journals include the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Cancer, and the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Many (but not all) television network news programs, and national newspapers and magazines have trained science reporters who translate scientific articles for the general public. The Internet offers an even bigger challenge in understanding science and medical news. Anyone can post information on the Internet. It has no formal checks and balances or editorial control systems, as traditional media outlets do. If you find information on the Internet which seems revolutionary, try to verify the source. Is the website run by a respected scientific, academic, or medical organization, or is it run by someone trying to sell a product or service? Knowing who is posting the information can give clues about the validity of what is reported.

However, don't assume that a new discovery, even from a respected source, is the last word. Other scientists must replicate the study to see if the outcomes are the same. It may be just one of a series of developments. Studies reported in journals are works in progress, and represent small links in the continuing chain of scientific understanding.

• A Glossary of Scientific Journal Terms
• Making Sense of Scientific Studies: Questions to Ask