Publicaciones | CESCA RSS feed for this section

Overdiagnosis as an extreme form of length-time bias. Breast cancer screening as an example

14 Oct

Overdiagnosis is an error of prognosis. Overdiagnosis is not an error of diagnosis. Overdiagnosis is a “true positive” diagnosis. We cannot distinguish between overdiagnosis cancer and non-overdiagnosis cancer. In this presentation the focus is on the vision of overdiagnosis as extreme form of length-time bias, and the research lines which might help in the future [...]

“Dr Cholesterol” against the “British Medical Journal”. Do not measure your cholesterol, be happy

26 May

The British Medical Journal has had problems with two papers about primary prevention of coronary artery disease (heart disease). Both papers have data that demonstrate statins have no use in primary prevention for most patients. The British Medical Journal problems relate to power, money and censorship. In this text a teacher explain the situation to [...]

Organization of Spanish Consumers against “medicalization of daily life”

8 May

Last 25th March, OCU joined and signed “Action on Selling Sickness” during a public action in a press conference. The Organization of Spanish Consumers is a private and independent one. OCU has translated into Spanish the document, and have started a campaign againts “medicalization of daily life” http://www.ocu.org/salud/medicamentos/informe/demasiados-medicamentos/stampa Notice the Spanish impact in the call [...]

Sacred secrets broken. Threats to the confidentiality of medical records. The case of Osabide, the centralized data base of Osakidetza (Basque Health Service) in Spain

25 Mar

The Basque Health Service, Osakidetza, established in 2003 a centralized data base, Osabide, with two millions medical records in full without asking permission or even notifying patients or the public (in some cases against the written opposition of a few patients who knew about the initiative). Two general practitioners who rejected Osabide and prepared a [...]

Too much medicine. Less is more

13 Feb

Too much of a good thing is bad. Too much of good thing may not be wonderful. You can have too much of a good thing as food and alcohol and the excess of either can make you fat or drunk. In medicine, in general, the motto should be “maximum quality, minimum quantity”. Because more [...]

Minimum data set in General Practice: definitions and coding

31 Jan

A minimum basic data set (MBDS) was designed and used in general practice. The most important purpose and need for establishing such a data set is to assist in the provision of patient care. MBDS is designed to meet common needs for many general practitioners. Minimum means that individual programmes or the GP are free [...]

Multicasuality of falls and the role of drugs

17 Oct

Falls cause important morbidity and mortality in elderly people, but can occur at any age. They can be caused by various concurrent causes. Psychotropic agents such as benzodiazepines and other hipnotic drugs, antidepressants, antipsychotics and opioids have been associated with a higher incidence of falls. To avoid fractures the key question is to avoid falls. [...]