90% of statistics on the Internet are made up...
January 3, 2019 12:50 AM Subscribe
I am seeing a new article going around saying that the Journal of Pediatrics has a paper saying 80% of kids have a food allergy. Seems high to me...
Here's one article for instance. I can't find anything in the Journal of Pediatrics saying anything like this from the most recent issue or from last years' issues. I don't suppose someone here can point me at the paper they're talking about? I'd like to read it or at least the abstract for myself.
Here's one article for instance. I can't find anything in the Journal of Pediatrics saying anything like this from the most recent issue or from last years' issues. I don't suppose someone here can point me at the paper they're talking about? I'd like to read it or at least the abstract for myself.
That AJC article says that the source is “Boston25news.com,” so I searched that site and found this article with the correct stat.
You’ll notice a correction at the bottom. So this article got it wrong, and the folks who picked up the syndicated article haven’t corrected theirs yet.
Good catch!
posted by bluedaisy at 2:33 AM on January 3 [16 favorites]
You’ll notice a correction at the bottom. So this article got it wrong, and the folks who picked up the syndicated article haven’t corrected theirs yet.
Good catch!
posted by bluedaisy at 2:33 AM on January 3 [16 favorites]
I wonder if a lazy journalist skimmed over this sentence
...42.3% reported ≥1 severe FA and 39.9% reported multiple FA...
and added the percentages together to get ~80% (ignoring/missing the fact that these were percentages of kids with FA, not percentages of all kids).
Or potentially misread/typoed:
FA is a major public health concern, affecting ∼8% of US children
into 80%.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 6:07 AM on January 3 [1 favorite]
...42.3% reported ≥1 severe FA and 39.9% reported multiple FA...
and added the percentages together to get ~80% (ignoring/missing the fact that these were percentages of kids with FA, not percentages of all kids).
Or potentially misread/typoed:
FA is a major public health concern, affecting ∼8% of US children
into 80%.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 6:07 AM on January 3 [1 favorite]
Thanks for pointing this out and thanks to humuhumu for finding the article. I live in Georgia and the Atlanta Journal Constitution is the only halfway decent paper in the state. I commented on their article.
posted by mareli at 8:53 AM on January 3 [1 favorite]
posted by mareli at 8:53 AM on January 3 [1 favorite]
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It's not hard to see a lazy journalist misreading the figure, misquoting the journal, and running with it to a doctor who, eager to get his own small allergy clinic some publicity, gives a quote over the phone without thinking or verifying. posted by humuhumu at 2:28 AM on January 3 [8 favorites]