Page 1 of 1 [ 8 posts ] 

ttqs84
Deinonychus
Deinonychus

User avatar

Joined: 6 Dec 2008
Age: 39
Gender: Female
Posts: 371
Location: Reality

12 Nov 2012, 1:33 pm

is this true?

link:

Flu During Pregnancy Linked to Autism


_________________
"Strengthen the female mind by enlarging it, and there will be an end to blind obedience." - Mary Wollstonecraft


Trencher93
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 23 Jun 2008
Age: 124
Gender: Male
Posts: 464

12 Nov 2012, 2:28 pm

I've seen this sort of pattern too many times. Many or most people X, a few people Y, therefore X is linked to Y. A scientist can almost generate these sorts of links any time you need to produce a paper. Just add a line at the end about more research being needed. They found a correlation in some data, but can't establish any reason for causation. Have any of these links ever been followed up?

There was one several years ago where the media was hyping up how dangerous Aleve (the NSAID painkiller) was to people - when you actually read it, high doses were given to very old people, and a certain percent died, but they were all so old and in poor health, and probably that many would have died regardless. This did not stop the media from distorting the story.



ianorlin
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 22 Oct 2012
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Posts: 756

12 Nov 2012, 3:23 pm

Correlation does not imply causality. We do not know yet. There may be good news in bladder infections not causing it. This does have a fairly large sample size so that is one step in making it more credible. Science needs to be repeated and this makes sense.



gretchyn
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 5 Sep 2012
Gender: Female
Posts: 467
Location: Middle Earth

12 Nov 2012, 7:39 pm

While I love and respect science, I find it hard to swallow many of the research reports du jour. Show me more evidence, and quit making news articles about mysterious "links." Wait until we know something before writing an article about it!



Taverson
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 11 Sep 2012
Age: 31
Gender: Male
Posts: 433

14 Nov 2012, 1:18 pm

Once it was vaccines.

"Don't vaccinate your child! He'll get autism!"

Then it was fathers over the age of 35.

"You can't have children! You're too old of a man!"

Now it's the flu.

"You have flu and are pregnant. Abort! Abort! Abort!"

It reeks of one, two, or both things:

-Population control
-The quest for a cookie-cutter population

I'm so f*****g sick and tired of people getting these ret*d (I rarely use this word but I will this time) notions that this or that causes autism and make the results public to cause a ripple in the water before anything is conclusive.

Stop sensationalizing science.

Sorry for my language.


_________________
In the end, all you can hope for is the love you felt to equal the pain you've gone through.


Taverson
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 11 Sep 2012
Age: 31
Gender: Male
Posts: 433

14 Nov 2012, 1:21 pm

This just in: studies show a correlation between babies being born and a huge belly.

Therefore all obese women are going to give birth soon.


_________________
In the end, all you can hope for is the love you felt to equal the pain you've gone through.


Uncommon
Emu Egg
Emu Egg

User avatar

Joined: 13 Nov 2012
Gender: Female
Posts: 2
Location: In the mountains, NC

14 Nov 2012, 5:54 pm

- The study was only a collection of data based on interviews with mothers. They "reported" having the flu and/or fever but were not actually tested. This is not a very reliable method for collecting this kind of data.

- This data only shows correlation, not causation/causality.

- Although I'm having difficulty finding it, in many articles regarding this new study, there is another study mentioned, from Sweden, which found no link between autism and flu.



Darkone101
Toucan
Toucan

User avatar

Joined: 16 Nov 2012
Age: 36
Gender: Male
Posts: 267

17 Nov 2012, 10:31 pm

Is there anything not linked to autism? I heard a mom say "One night I turned around sleeping with my head at the footboard and that's why my child is autistic"