Thursday 24 June 2010

Cracking bit of bansturbation/fakestatistics

From The Metro:

Watching the World Cup on television could increase the risk of dying from heart disease, scientists have warned.

Every hour a day spent sitting in front of a television increases the risk of death from heart disease by a further 7% of an individual's normal risk level, a study of 13,197 healthy middle aged men and women in Norfolk has shown. The Medical Research Council (MRC) research published in the International Journal of Epidemiology found 373 of the group - one in 35 - died from heart disease over a 10-year period...


Even if the results are correctly recorded and analysed, what they tout as a 7% increase (in relative terms) is of course an 0.2% increase (in absolute terms).

3 comments:

Witterings from Witney said...

When will these people 'get a life'? In any event it is well known that 'questionnaires' can be framed to provide the required answer, so not too much weight can be placed on them.

A Farmer said...

I find that listening to the Archers when I was a child had shortened my life span by at least 15 years. The docs said it was untreatable chronic boredom syndrome.

john miller said...

Sadly, because my name is John, I am 4000% more likely to have a heart attack than someone named Xplthnkxz.

I blame the parents...