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Ann Thorac Surg 2003;76:4-11
© 2003 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

Statistician’s page

Assessing the medical literature: let the buyer beware

Victor A. Ferraris, MD, PhD*a, Suellen P. Ferraris, PhDa

a Division of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center, Lexington, Kentucky, USA

* Address reprint requests to Dr Ferraris, Division of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, C208, Chandler Medical Center, University of Kentucky, 800 Rose St, Lexington, KY 40536, USA.
e-mail: vferr2{at}uky.edu

As many as 30% of journal articles may contain errors. Most of these errors involve the use of simple statistical tests or elementary principles of research design. Assessment of the thoracic surgical literature involves cautious circumspection. This does not mean that it is necessary to have in-depth knowledge of sophisticated statistics, rather it means that common sense understanding of a few principles of research design and simple statistics are necessary to determine the usefulness and believability of literature publications.




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