satt comments on Rationality Quotes May 2013 - Less Wrong

6 Post author: katydee 03 May 2013 08:02PM

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Comment author: satt 01 February 2014 03:27:51PM 2 points [-]

That's a curious metric to choose.

It's a fairly natural metric to choose if one wishes to gauge aspirin's effect on cancer risk, as the study's authors did.

By that standard taking aspirin is about as healthy as playing a round of Russian Roulette.

Fortunately, the study's authors and I also interpreted the data by another standard. Daily aspirin reduced all-cause mortality, and didn't increase non-cancer deaths (except for "a transient increase in risk of vascular death in the aspirin groups during the first year after completion of the trials"). These are not results we would see if aspirin effected its anti-cancer magic by a similar mechanism to Russian Roulette.

Comment author: wedrifid 02 February 2014 09:53:31AM *  0 points [-]

It's a fairly natural metric to choose if one wishes to gauge aspirin's effect on cancer risk, as the study's authors did.

Pardon me. Mentioning only curiosity was politeness. The more significant meanings I would supplement with are 'naive or suspicious'. By itself that metric really is worthless and reading this kind of health claim should set off warning bells. Lost purposes are a big problem when it comes to medicine. Partly because it is hard, mostly because there is more money in the area than nearly anywhere else.

Fortunately, the study's authors and I also interpreted the data by another standard. Daily aspirin reduced all-cause mortality, and didn't increase non-cancer deaths (except for "a transient increase in risk of vascular death in the aspirin groups during the first year after completion of the trials").

And this is the reason low dose asprin is part of my daily supplement regime (while statins are not).

"All cause mortality" is a magical phrase.

Comment author: Kawoomba 02 February 2014 10:57:30AM *  0 points [-]

And this is the reason low dose asprin is part of my daily supplement regime (while statins are not).

I recently stopped with the low dose aspirin, the bleeding when I accidentally cut myself has proven to be too much of an inconvenience. For the time being, at least.