1. Does reductio ad absurdum have a place in evidence-based medicine?
- Author
-
Florian Naudet, Bruno Falissard, Comportement et noyaux gris centraux = Behavior and Basal Ganglia [Rennes], CHU Pontchaillou [Rennes]-Université de Rennes 1 (UR1), Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES)-Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES)-Université européenne de Bretagne - European University of Brittany (UEB)-Institut des Neurosciences Cliniques de Rennes (INCR), Troubles du comportement alimentaire de l'adolescent (UMR_S 669), Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)-Université Paris Descartes - Paris 5 (UPD5)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), This paper was supported by the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM). The sponsor had no role concerning preparation, review or approval of the manuscript., Université de Rennes (UR)-Université européenne de Bretagne - European University of Brittany (UEB)-CHU Pontchaillou [Rennes]-Institut des Neurosciences Cliniques de Rennes = Institute of Clinical Neurosciences of Rennes (INCR), Université de Rennes (UR)-Université européenne de Bretagne - European University of Brittany (UEB)-CHU Pontchaillou [Rennes]-Institut des Neurosciences Cliniques de Rennes (INCR), Lecoupe-Grainville, Marie, Comportement et noyaux gris centraux [Rennes], Université de Rennes 1 ( UR1 ), Université de Rennes ( UNIV-RENNES ) -Université de Rennes ( UNIV-RENNES ) -Université européenne de Bretagne ( UEB ) -CHU Pontchaillou [Rennes]-Institut des Neurosciences Cliniques de Rennes (INCR), Troubles du comportement alimentaire de l'adolescent ( UMR_S 669 ), and Université Paris Descartes - Paris 5 ( UPD5 ) -Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale ( INSERM ) -Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 ( UP11 )
- Subjects
Evidence-based medicine ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Major depressive disorder ,Epistemology ,Publication bias ,Placebos ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Nothing ,[ SDV.MHEP ] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Human health and pathology ,Rhetorical question ,Reductio ad absurdum ,Humans ,Medicine ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Meaning (existential) ,Set (psychology) ,Absurdity ,Placebo ,media_common ,Medicine(all) ,[SDV.MHEP] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Human health and pathology ,Depression ,business.industry ,Comment ,Statistics ,Antidepressants ,General Medicine ,Antidepressive Agents ,3. Good health ,Meta-analysis ,Commentary ,business ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,[SDV.MHEP]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Human health and pathology ,Medical literature - Abstract
In a meta-analysis published in BMC Medicine, we explored whether evidence-based medicine can actually be sure that ‘sucrose = sucrose’ in the treatment of depression. This paper, based upon a reductio ad absurdum, addressed an epistemological question using a ‘scientific’ approach, and could be disconcerting as suggested by Cipriani and Geddes’ commentary. However, most papers are based upon a mixture of observations and discussions about sense and meaning. Ultimately, there is nothing more than a story, told with words or numbers. Randomised controlled trials provide information about average patients that do not exist. These results ignores an entire segment of therapeutics that plays a crucial role, namely care. This information is usually set out using a ‘grammar’ that is ambiguous, since statistical tests of hypothesis have raised epistemological questions that are not as yet solved. Moreover, many of these stories remain untold, and unpublished. For these reasons evidence-based medicine is a vehicle for many paradoxes and controversies. Reductio ad absurdum can be useful in precisely this case, to underline how and why the medical literature can sometimes give an impression of absurdity of this sort. Even if the data analysis in our paper was rather rhetorical, we agree that it should comply with the classic standards of reporting and we provide the important extra data that Cipriani and Geddes have requested. Please see related articles: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/11/230 and http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/12/105.
- Published
- 2014