Corinne Hodgson

Author's details

Name: Corinne Hodgson
Date registered: April 21, 2008

Latest posts

  1. Who are Low Germans and why do they matter to public health? — November 22, 2011
  2. A relook at the Milgram obedience experiment: are we all capable of being Nazis? — November 7, 2011
  3. Is healthcare biased against men? The case of PSA testing — October 31, 2011
  4. As Kenny Rogers said, you’ve got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ‘em — October 24, 2011
  5. It’s not what you think – when health stats are twisted — October 19, 2011

Most commented posts

  1. Who is responsible for misleading statistics? — 6 comments
  2. Relative risk is like a push-up bra — 2 comments
  3. If bribery doesn’t help people change, what about penalties? — 2 comments
  4. What is the meaning of “100-year storm”? — 2 comments
  5. Eat a salad and you eat alone – teens’ attitudes about healthy eating — 1 comment

Author's posts listings

Aug
28

Nail in the coffin of eugenics?

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The idea that people are born with innate abilities such as intelligence dates back to the ancient Greeks.  In western society, it really picked up steam in the 19th century with the publication of Galton’s Hereditary Genius. According to psychologist Victoria Plaut and Hazel Markus1, the idea spread widely through American academics and politics during … Continue reading »

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Aug
21

What is the Edmonton Obesity Staging System and why does it matter?

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A fair bit of media buzz was generated by the recent publication of the EdmontonObesity Staging System.1 The EOSS was created in large part because of the limitations posed by the Body Mass Index (BMI) and even waist circumference. Both may be helpful in dividing large numbers of people into risk groups but are pretty … Continue reading »

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Aug
18

Off Topic: Of Mad Men, the FLDS and My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding

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Not long ago, my friend, the fab media maven Elissa Freeman, wrote a guest blog concerning money and relations between the sexes (“Contemporary marriage unions would SHOCK Carol Brady and my mom” http://www.marriedmysugardaddy.com/contemporary-marriage-unions-would-shock-carol-brady-and-my-mom?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter).  What I found interesting were some of the comments. One woman wrote about remembering her father telling her mother that she didn’t … Continue reading »

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Aug
13

Do you know what your chiropractor believes?

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Many, many decades ago, my father was sent to a chiropractor by his family doctor.  Well, “sent” is a little strong.  Actually, the family doctor said there wasn’t much he could do for my father’s back pain and so he might consider to go to the chiropractor in town, but to never tell anyone that … Continue reading »

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Aug
07

On depression and “thinking positive”

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Psychiatric genetics is an emerging and important area of research.  As its name implies, it’s the study of how genetics contribute to psychiatric issues such as schizophrenia, autism, ADHD and depression.  Not that it’s a simple relationship. For example, studies on twins in Swedenhave shown that genetics explain about 40% of a woman’s risk of … Continue reading »

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Aug
02

Can RCTs be used to evaluate websites?

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In the world of medical and health research, the “gold standard” of proof is the randomized controlled trial (RCT).  The heart of the RCT is that it’s a trial or study that: compares a control group — a group that gets a placebo or existing standard intervention — to an experimental group that gets the … Continue reading »

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Jul
28

You too can be a statistician and play with chi squares!

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Ok, so it’s not as much fun as having your teeth cleaned.  But if you’re looking at rates or proportions and want to find out if there is a significant difference, the first test to consider is probably a chi square. I’m going to explain here how you calculate a chi square.  The point is … Continue reading »

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Jul
19

Do medical centres exaggerate research findings?

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Press releases increase the chances that findings from a research study will be picked up by the media.  In fact, a 2008 study found that about a third of American health news stories rely solely or largely on press releases.(1) There’s a tendency for press releases from pharmaceutical companies and medical journal to overstate the … Continue reading »

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Jul
10

When health promotion claims are exaggerated: risk factor x causes y number of deaths

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On WebMD you can find the following statements: about 20% of all deaths from heart disease in the US are related to smoking 35,000 nonsmokers will die from heart disease each year as a result of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. This example cites smoking stats but similar claims have been made for other risk … Continue reading »

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Jul
03

Making assumptions about depression in heart disease and seniors

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It’s been estimated that about a third of patients with heart failure are depressed or at least have depressive symptoms. Of course, you could argue that it’s surprising the proportion isn’t greater: heart failure is a miserable disease with symptoms as bad as, and a mortality rate worse than, many forms of cancer. With this … Continue reading »

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