Abstract

BERGADO, Jorge A  and  SILVA AYCAGUER, Luis Carlos. Parachutes, science and common sense: Evidence Based Medicine as a key to relevant scientific information on health care. Rev. cuba. inf. cienc. salud [online]. 2015, vol.26, n.1, pp. 78-83. ISSN 2307-2113.

Sound, well-founded scientific information is crucial to current medical practice. Evidence based medicine fosters the study and permanent updating of treatments based on the best scientific evidence available at each moment. However, advocates of some "alternative" therapies try to minimize the value of scientific evidence or ridicule its followers, putting a smokescreen when evidence does not support their views. A paper published in the British Medical Journal in 2003 intended to satirize evidence based medicine by examining the evidence on the efficacy of the use of parachutes as protective gear in case of falls from great heights. An analysis of that paper allows us to illustrate how bad faith may sometimes permeate a study which should otherwise remain within the limits of common sense and good science.

Keywords : Evidence Based Medicine; alternative medicine; meta-analysis.

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