Blogs can be quite helpful when it comes to looking behind medical headlines.
The personal commentary of experts, found on their blogs, may assist you in forming the answers to some of the questions you've already tried to answer, such as whether the number of participants was adequate or whether the study was done by an organization with a vested profit interest.
To get this kind of information, search on terms such as the disease, the drug tested, then the word "blog."
You'll find discussions by medical professionals, researchers, patients, the manufacturer, and others who blog about such things. By reviewing what they have to say, you'll find yourself understanding the issues that surround the findings of the study results in question.
Approach this with caution, however. There are many people who call themselves experts, but you can't be sure they are. It will be worth your time to review their commentary only if it is repeated elsewhere by someone you do consider to be knowledgeable. Remember, you aren't using these personal commentaries to derive objective or credible information. You're only reviewing them to see what kinds of questions they are raising.
In addition, many businesses are now use blogs as marketing tools. For example, it would not be unusual for you to find a blog about a drug that was written by the manufacturer of that drug. If you make that assessment, skip that blog all together. You can find much more objective information to help you.
In conducting your own research, you may even find opinion pieces from medical experts in the very journals studies are published in.
Now it's time for you to get in touch with your number one resource -- your doctor.
