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MEDICAL RESEARCHERS HAVING MORE TROUBLE "DOING THE MATH" | |
| Contact: Kenneth E. Freedland, Ph.D. Phone: 314-286-1311 Email: freedlak@wustl.edu Embargoed until: March 3, 2004 |
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Vancouver, BC, Canada - News reports about the latest advances in medical research usually gloss over the complicated details of the studies because they are hard for the general public to understand. It turns out that a growing number of medical and social scientists are also having trouble understanding the complex statistics that play an important role in this kind of research. According to Kenneth Freedland, Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, there has been a revolution over the past decade in the statistical methods that are used in medical research. "These advances have given researchers some very powerful new analytical tools. The problem is that they are much more complicated than the older, simpler techniques that most of us learned in school, so we're having a hard time keeping up with them." Researchers in psychosomatic medicine study the interactions of mind, brain, body and social context in health and disease. "This is an especially challenging problem in psychosomatic research because most of our studies are conducted by multidisciplinary teams of investigators. It's not unusual - and not always easy - for physicians, epidemiologists, psychologists, nurses, and other professionals to team up to study such questions as how emotional stress contributes to heart disease, how to treat depression in patients with cancer, or how to prevent obesity in children. Some of the sophisticated, new statistical methods are making faster inroads in some professions than others." To address this challenge, some of the leading statisticians in the field gathered today at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society, held March 2-5, 2005 in Vancouver, British Columbia. The panelists included Drs. Michael Babyak (Duke University), Carlos F. Mendes de Leon (Rush University Medical Center), Helen Kraemer (Stanford University), and Maria Llabre (University of Miami). Dr. Freedland chaired the session. The audience included seasoned investigators with years of experience in psychosomatic research, as well as trainees and young investigators who are just starting out on their research careers. The panelists highlighted some of the most important developments and held a "town hall" discussion to address the research community's questions and concerns. The discussion was led by Dr. David Sheps (University of Florida), the editor-in-chief of Psychosomatic Medicine, one of the leading journals for psychosomatic research. "The statistical revolution is here, whether we're ready or not. It is shaping the future of psychosomatic research. We have to go beyond ignoring or denying it, and even beyond simply struggling to cope with it. We have to start learning how to make the best use of it. The pace of scientific progress in psychosomatic medicine depends on it." | |
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Psychosomatic Medicine is the official peer-reviewed journal of the American Psychosomatic Society, published bimonthly. For information about the journal, contact Vicki White, Managing Editor for Manuscript Production,
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