HealthNewsReview.org gave Gina Kolata’s front-page New York Times story touting spinal taps to predict Alzheimer’s disease a two-star rating (out of five). Chief complaint: its 100 accuracy claim ignored the test’s “specificity” problem. Over a third of people told they were on the road to dementia didn’t develop the disease.
I’m glad somebody blew the whistle on this latest example of hyped health care coverage that so consistently emanates from the word processor of Ms. Kolata. Perhaps it was because I was surrounded by the glory of the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado that I had to read the lead of her story a second time (after going back to the original study) to figure out how she was even able to make a claim that the test was “100 percent accurate.” Here’s her lead:
Researchers report that a spinal fluid test can be 100 percent accurate in identifying patients with significant memory loss who are on their way to developing Alzheimer’s disease.
The test was given to three cohorts: those without memory loss; those with mild but measurable (“significant”) cognitive impairment; and those classified as full-blown dementia. She cherry-picked the “positive predictive” data from the second cohort — “patients with significant memory loss” — and made that the lead.
But let’s not let the Archives of Neurology, where the study appeared, entirely off the hook. Its editorial accompanying the study was headlined “Sharpen That Needle.” That’s telling doctors to rush toward using a test whose 100 percent predictive accuracy claim was based on a grand total of 57 seniors.
In case you’re wondering who was behind this study, here’s the HealthNewsReview‘s description of its provenance:
Several of the researchers who were responsible for the conduct of the study and the interpretation of the results are or were employees of a company (Innogenetics) that produces key components of the spinal fluid test and thus would benefit from clinical use of such a test. Also, funding for the study came from an institute (the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Institute) that is a partnership between public and private entities and that has received more than $20 million from pharmaceutical companies involved in developing potential tests and treatments for Alzheimer’s Disease.
Needless to say, none of that information appeared in Ms. Kolata’s story.
