I think we all need to keep in mind that 18 years is an arbitrary legal (not biological) cutoff point. Puberty is a process not an event.
So treating >18 and <18 on a yes/no basis will miss a lot of nuance. It might be the best we can do with existing data, but we need to make this caveat more explicit.
Dear Peter Gotzsche,
leaving aside the specific case of antidepressants, I’d be interested in your wider perspective on what should count as reliable evidence from clinical trials.
I’m aware that bias and distortions are widespread, having authored this study for TranspariMED: https://www.transparimed.org/single-post/2017/12/14/New-study-documents-the-harm-caused-by-evidence-distortion-in-medical-research
Is your perspective that none of the currently available sources of information on drug safety and efficacy are reliable? If so, what does that imply for clinicians and patients in areas of medicine beyond psychiatry? Should we dismiss all published clinical evidence and go by doctors’ and patients’ personal experiences alone?
Genuinely interested in your view, RSVP.
Thank you!
I think we all need to keep in mind that 18 years is an arbitrary legal (not biological) cutoff point. Puberty is a process not an event.
So treating >18 and <18 on a yes/no basis will miss a lot of nuance. It might be the best we can do with existing data, but we need to make this caveat more explicit.
Dear Peter Gotzsche,
leaving aside the specific case of antidepressants, I’d be interested in your wider perspective on what should count as reliable evidence from clinical trials.
I’m aware that bias and distortions are widespread, having authored this study for TranspariMED:
https://www.transparimed.org/single-post/2017/12/14/New-study-documents-the-harm-caused-by-evidence-distortion-in-medical-research
Is your perspective that none of the currently available sources of information on drug safety and efficacy are reliable? If so, what does that imply for clinicians and patients in areas of medicine beyond psychiatry? Should we dismiss all published clinical evidence and go by doctors’ and patients’ personal experiences alone?
Genuinely interested in your view, RSVP.
Thank you!