Depression stroke risk and acupuncture

Inspired by Chen et al J Affect Disord 2019.[1] Photo by Milada Vigerova on Unsplash. The massive Taiwanese National Health Database strikes again! This time it was used to find new cases of depression between 1997 and 2010. The team found just over 55k cases. Of these, 13 823 received acupuncture treatment, and they were … Continue reading Depression stroke risk and acupuncture

Immortal time bias

Inspired by Shih C-C et al QJM 2019.[1] Immortal Bridge, Mount Tai, ChinaPhoto by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:PfctdayeliseSky edit by MC – sky from sunset over South Island New Zealand This paper struck me as interesting because of its size, its overlap with previous topics on the blog (VCIND, CHD in RA), but most of all because it … Continue reading Immortal time bias

CHD incidence in RA and acupuncture

Inspired by Wu et al. BMC Complement Altern Med 2018.[1] The title of this paper is rather eye-catching for the Western medic: Acupuncture decreased the risk of coronary heart disease in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in Taiwan… Really? Are you suggesting that acupuncture is the next statin? Surely not! Well, let me start by saying … Continue reading CHD incidence in RA and acupuncture