Year: 2019

In February, I wrote a post tracking how a core finding from Bermingham et al, a 2010 study, has been misrepresented repeatedly in claims about the costs to the National Health Service of so-called “medically unexplained symptoms.” The misrepresented finding has been cited by proponents of an NHS effort to divert people labeled as having…

In multiple venues, Professor Carolyn Chew-Graham of Keele University has misstated the reported cost of so-called “medically unexplained symptoms” to the NHS. Professor Roger Jones, editor of the British Journal of General Practice, recently corrected such a misstatement in a 2017 editorial written by Professor Chew-Graham and several colleagues. (Thank you, Professor Jones!) Now that…

SAME-DAY UPDATE: I have sent the University of Bristol’s FOI office a follow-up request. I cc’d Sue Paterson, the university’s director of legal services. Here’s what I wrote: Dear FOI Office (and Ms Paterson)– I appreciate the response to my questions from the above-referenced request. That request concerned the pediatric Lightning Process study conducted by…

This week I raised concerns about a second systematic review that cited the dung heap known as the Lightning Process study, published by Archives of Disease in Childhood two years ago. This new review did not mention the paper’s egregious deficiencies. After the appearance in April of an earlier systematic review that highlighted the study,…

In recent weeks, I have tried to bring attention to the troubling fact that a major systematic review of pediatric CFS/ME (as the authors called the illness) cited Bristol University’s Lightning Process study as evidence that the intervention was “effective.” Now another systematic review—this one of mental health outcomes of treatments for kids diagnosed with…

Note: On her blog, Occupy M.E., Jennie Spotila recently posted another one of her indispensable close readings of NIH spending figures. I am reposting this here with Jennie’s permission. Another NIH Funding Fact-Check In April, NIH finally published their funding numbers for ME/CFS research in 2018. That means it is time for another fact-check and…

UPDATE: Within an hour or two of writing to Bristol, I received a response from the university’s director of legal services. Here’s what she wrote: Dear Dr Tuller Thank you for your email. The Information Rights team is making good progress on clearing the back log, your FOI request is currently being processed and I…

Today I received an e-mail from Professor Roger Jones, editor of British Journal of General Practice. I’ve been nudging him to correct a false statement in a 2017 editorial about the cost of so-called “medically unexplained symptoms” to the UK National Health Service. The false statement involved a misquotation of a key statistic from a…

Earlier today (Sunday, June 9th, in San Francisco), I sent the following e-mail to Professor Roger Jones, the editor of the British Journal of General Practice. I first wrote to Professor Jones in early May, seeking a correction to a 2017 editorial about the cost of so-called “medically unexplained symptoms” to the National Health Service.…

Alan Montgomery is a professor of medical statistics and clinical trials at the University of Nottingham’s School of Medicine. He is also the senior author of the Lightning Process study, which was published in 2017 in Archives of Disease in Childhood, a BMJ journal. I wrote him a letter in January of this year, alerting…

Fans of Bristol University’s team of pediatric ME/CFS researchers could be forgiven if they hoped a recent citation of one of the group’s most high-profile studies would help bolster its wobbling reputation. Yet the suggestion that the Lightning Process is an “effective” treatment for kids–highlighted in the abstract of a pediatric review of “CFS/ME”–has focused…

The recent publication of a review of pediatric “CFS/ME” that promoted the Lightning Process as “effective” has triggered renewed concern–well, ok, I’ve triggered much of that renewed concern–about the 2017 study on which this specious claim is based. That study, from an experienced team from Bristol University, was published by Archives of Disease in Childhood,…