Evidence-Based - In The Eye of the Beholder
In the world of everyone trying to stop “mis-information” about what someone else has said, you’ll often hear them throw a qualifier out that they are “evidence-based.” What they are implying is that what they say is backed by science (evidence), and if you’re arguing with science, then you are just a stupid idiot.
WHAT TYPE OF QUESTIONS?
“Evidence” is based on the questions you ask, not necessarily outcomes.
Your cardiologist can say taking a statin is evidence-based for lowering cholesterol, and he’s correct. But if you ask him about the outcomes of lowering cholesterol on deaths associated with heart attacks, there’s no proof.
In the fall, you’ll be pressured into getting a flu shot. They will say it’s evidence-based. Their evidence is that the people who got the shot build an IgG antibody response against the virus. Does that antibody response translate into fewer people dying from the flu? Especially the elderly, the most vulnerable? Nope.
“Observational studies report that influenza vaccination reduces winter mortality risk from any cause by 50% among the elderly. Influenza vaccination coverage among elderly persons (≥65 years) in the United States increased from between 15% and 20% before 1980 to 65% in 2001. Unexpectedly, estimates of influenza-related mortality in this age group also increased during this period.”
Mental health is a massive topic with the push to use “evidence-based” therapies and medications. Antidepressant use increased almost 400% from 1998 through 2008. It’s now the third most common prescription for all age groups. About 60% of Americans have taken antidepressants for more than two years, 14% of them for more than 10 years. If not medications, then talking about your problems more often translates into better outcomes, right?
Survey says? The more we treat “depression,” the more disability due to depression increases.
What about the evidence of nutritional advice? The majority of the states that have the most restrictions on insurance-covered nutritional advice are also the ones with the highest obesity rates: Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee.
It seems the more we treat a “condition,” the more disabilities due to that condition increase, whether mental or physical.
WHAT ABOUT VARIABLES?
Another issue with “evidence-based” is that the variables that make up life are taken OUT of the equation. The “evidence” works for an intervention when someone is within a certain age, gender, weight, healthy status, geography, and income level, etc.
My challenge to you is to quiet the evidence-based crowd noise, step back, and look at your ailments through a lens of systems and origins instead of a collection of symptoms and organs. The “evidence” that someone gets well among others who have the same diagnosis is hard to quantify because there are so many factors that influence an individual to experience a certain ailment. You can line up 5 people with the same diagnosis, and all 5 have different life journeys that lead them to their adaptive health expression. It’s really an individual, case-by-case basis.
This path isn’t for everyone. Here are some things to consider before starting down this journey. If you’re ok with that, then let’s chat.
