Should you believe every medical news headline?
Have you ever read a headline that caught your eye but then found the story itself disappointing? Or worse, did you feel that the dramatic headline was utterly misleading? Yeah, me too. The impact of a well-crafted headline can be significant. We often skim the headlines and decide whether to read on. Media coverage can mislead or confuse. Watch for these pitfalls.
Overstated study findings
Were humans studied? If a study finds that a drug is safe and effective for an important disease, that's big news. But what if all of the study subjects were mice? Leaving out this important detail from the headline exaggerates the study's importance.
Too much drama
Dramatic terms such as "breakthrough" or "groundbreaking" are standard in headlines about medical research. Yet true breakthroughs are pretty rare. That's the nature of science: knowledge tends to accumulate slowly, with each finding building a bit on what came before.
Going too far
Headlines often make a leap of faith when summarizing a study's findings. For example, suppose researchers find a new type of cell in the blood that increases when a disease worsens. In that case, they may speculate that treatments to reduce those cells might control the disease. "Researchers discover a new approach to treatment!" blares the headline. Sure, that could happen someday, but it's an overstatement when the study wasn't assessing treatment.
Overlooking the most important outcome
Rather than examining how a treatment affects heart disease, studies may assess how it affects a risk factor for it. A good example is cholesterol. It's great if a drug lowers cholesterol, but much better if it lowers the rate of cardiovascular disease and death. Headlines rarely capture the critical difference between a "proxy measure" (such as a risk factor) and the most crucial outcome (such as rates of death).
Faulty logic
A link for illness is not the same as a cause of the illness. The distinction between "causation" and an "association" is essential. Observational studies can figure out whether there is a link (association) between two health issues, such as a link between a symptom (like a headache) and a disease (like stomach ulcers). But that doesn't mean one caused the other. Imagine an observational study comparing thousands of headache sufferers with those who rarely had headaches. Suppose more people in the frequent headache group also had more stomach ulcers. In that case, the headline might boldly declare, "Headaches cause ulcers!" A more likely explanation is that people with a lot of headaches are taking aspirin, ibuprofen, and related drugs, which are known causes of ulcers.
Hazy on key details
Someday isn't today. Studies of new drugs or devices may be heralded as life-changing for people or practice-changing for doctors. Yet, a closer look often reveals that the new treatment is years away from reaching the market — or it may never get approved.
A work in progress
"Preliminary" is the missing word in many headlines. Studies presented at medical conferences but have yet to be published in a peer-reviewed medical journal offer preliminary insights. This research, while promising at the time, may ultimately be a scientific dead end.
One story, many headlines
Here's a great example of overhyped headlines. A 2021 study presented findings about a pacemaker that treats abnormal heart rhythms for some time and then dissolves. Amazing, right? For people who need a pacemaker only temporarily, a dissolving pacemaker could allow them to avoid a surgical procedure to remove it once it is no longer required. Three headlines covering this research spun the story this way:
Coming Soon: An Implanted Pacemaker That Dissolves Away After Use
Could people one day get pacemakers that dissolve into the body?
First-ever transient pacemaker harmlessly dissolves in the body.
But that dissolving pacemaker had never been tried in living humans — an important fact! To test the dissolving pacemaker, the researchers performed open-heart surgery in rats and dogs and lab experiments on heart tissue removed from mice, rabbits, and deceased humans. The first headline demonstrates the pitfall of overpromising on preliminary research findings: yes, a dissolving pacemaker might someday be routine in humans, but it's unlikely to be "coming soon." And when a headline says "harmlessly dissolves in body," we might reasonably think this refers to a living human body. Not so.
The bottom line
Why are we constantly bombarded with misleading headlines? A significant reason is that headlines attract attention, clicks, reads, subscriptions, and influence essential to media sites. Some writers and editors lean into the hype, knowing it attracts more attention. Others may need to be trained to read or present medical news carefully enough. Is it a study, a press release, or an ad? It's hard to tell with some headlines. Press releases or advertisements typically positively spin new findings or treatments. We expect news stories to be more balanced.
Our advice is to be skeptical but keep an open mind. Consider the source and read past the headline before buying in. And if your go-to media often serves up misleading headlines, consider changing channels or crossing that news source off your list.
About Us
Dr. Poonam Singh, MD, and Dr. Amar Singh, MD, are board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Obesity Medicine. They specialize in preventing, treating, and reversing chronic diseases using an evidence-based holistic approach. They are specifically interested in weight management, hormone re-balancing, and longevity. The American College of Physicians has recognized them as Fellows, FACP, for their excellence and contributions to medicine and the broader community. They enjoy teaching, volunteering, and advocating for their patients. Their mission is to share simple, effective, proven strategies leading to meaningful, sustainable, and long-lasting well-being.