I have just read the latest New Zealand Herald article about COVID-19 “Hydrocortisone and dexamethasone found to save critically ill patients”. It came up on my phone as the lead story of the day.
The author was the Herald’s environment and Maori affairs reporter, so I knew I could expect a wildly distorted interpretation of reality, and this was summed up in the key statement:
“The drugs, hydrocortisone and dexamethasone, cut the risk of death for those needing ICU care by 20 per cent, with one extra patient surviving for every 11 treated.”
In this universe, 20 percent equals one in five. One in 11 equals 9%.
But that is not the only shock.
Since very early on in the outbreak, a major cause of death has been the dreaded cytokine storm, where the body’s immune system overreacts to the virus and destroys organs. Hydrocortisone is the obvious and standard treatment for this symptom, regardless of the cause.
The research involved 1703 patients in “randomised controlled” studies. Usually, that means half are given the treatment, and half are given no treatment or a placebo. In a case where there is a high expectation of a positive outcome of the treatment, one would expect two thirds, or even three quarters, to receive treatment. Unbelievably, two thirds were given no treatment.
Let’s be clear, the obvious treatment was withheld from two thirds of the patients, and this resulted in more deaths.
We have seen how covid causes stupidity in our politicians, but here is proof it has caused stupidity in our journalists, and evidence it is causing stupidity in our medical profession.
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