The sounds of silence

摘要

Sometimes, no news is news. In clinical trials, where new medical treatments are tried out on human subjects, no news-an inconclusive result, indicating that the treatment is useless, or a negative one, indicating that it is harmful—can be as scientifically important as a positive result. Unfortunately, such a result is much less likely to be reported. That is particularly true for trials sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry which, according to the American Medical Association (AMA), accounted for over 70% of the funding for such trials in America in 2002, the most recent year for which figures are available. The lack of reporting of null or negative findings is pernicious because it skews the results of so-called "meta-analyses", which compile data from previous studies of a treatment. If only positive results are reported, then a meta-analysis risks b eing too laudatory.