text_1: Prostate cancer treatment may spark heart problems
text_2: Although this story tries to put things in perspective, the headline and lead sentences push readers onto shaky ground that is not supported by the evidence presented. It jumps back and forth between evidence and speculation. This story improperly presents hormone therapy as a single type of treatment and the choice for patients being to either get “it” or not. In fact, there are several varieties of hormonal approaches used in prostate cancer treatment and this study found that different therapies were associated with different levels of heart disease risk, thus raising the possibility that refining treatment choices could minimize the concerns. The study was an observational review of heart disease among men being given hormonal therapies for prostate cancer. The story should have made clear that this type of study cannot establish cause-and-effect. What’s more, the study design appears to have serious limitations that are not addressed in the story. This last point highlights one hazard of reporting on presentations at medical meetings; unlike articles published in leading journals, meeting presentations do not undergo formal peer review. As a result, weaknesses in the design, gaps in the data and alternative explanations may be undeclared… and then unreported by journalists.