Understanding Medical Research

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Basics

• Summary
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• Related Issues

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Research

• Statistics and Research
• Journal Articles

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Summary

It seems to happen almost every day - you hear about the results of a new medical research study. Sometimes the results of one study seem to disagree with the results of another study.

It's important to be critical when reading or listening to reports of new medical findings. Some questions that can help you evaluate health information include:

• Was the study in animals or people?
• Does the study include people like you?
• How big was the study?
• Was it a randomized controlled clinical trial?
• Where was the research done?
• If a new treatment was being tested, were there side effects?
• Who paid for the research?
• Who is reporting the results?

NIH: National Institutes of Health

Start Here

• Clinical Research (Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development) Also in Spanish
• Clinical Research FAQ (National Human Genome Research Institute)
• Discoveries in Basic Science: A Perfectly Imperfect Process (National Institutes of Health) Also in Spanish
• Know the Science: How To Make Sense of a Scientific Journal Article (National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health)
• Understanding Health Risks: Improve Your Chances for Good Health (National Institutes of Health) Also in Spanish

Related Issues

• Placebo Effect (American Academy of Neurology) - PDF

Videos and Tutorials

• Understanding Medical Words: A Tutorial from the National Library of Medicine (National Library of Medicine)

Statistics and Research

• Research Organisms (National Institute of General Medical Sciences)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Considering Sex as a Variable at a Research University: Knowledge, Attitudes,...
• Article: Different domains of dengue research in the Philippines: A systematic review...
• Article: The impact of a digital platform on migraine patient-centered outcome research....
• Understanding Medical Research -- see more articles

Reference Desk

• Findings (National Institute of General Medical Sciences)
• Glossary of Common Site Terms (National Institutes of Health)
• Some Common Abbreviations (National Library of Medicine)
• Word Parts and What They Mean (National Library of Medicine)

Find an Expert

• National Human Genome Research Institute
• National Library of Medicine