This is hilariously silly - observational study (of course people who go on more vacations are healthier!) - n=63(!) - NO CORRECTION FOR CONFOUNDERS - crazily abnormal sample (avg number of vacations was 5.5)https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-7166543/Holidays-cut-risk-heart-disease.html …
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People who took more vacations were better off, to the tune of 25% less metabolic syndrome (a composite of obesity, blood cholesterol, and blood glucose)
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Now, I bang on about the issues with large samples and systemic bias, but all that aside the first thing to note is that 63 people is simply not enough for a study of this kindpic.twitter.com/HsZpUHt0fu
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The researchers used a logistic model to compare a binary outcome - yes/no metabolic syndrome - and 63 people is totally inadequate for any statistical reliability
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But even more than that is the correlation/causation issue This study can't even begin to answer the question of whether holidays are good for healthpic.twitter.com/f4kEcy7l8Z
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All the researchers showed - literally the entirety of this study - is that people who go on more holidays are a bit healthier than people who don't THAT'S ALL
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Could holidays be making people more healthy? Perhaps Could people who go on more holidays be richer and less likely to have metabolic disease? WHAT DO YOU THINKpic.twitter.com/JCzGcyZum4
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And best of all, look at the p-value THE STUDY DIDN'T FIND A 'SIGNIFICANT' RESULT IT'S ALL JUST NONSENSEpic.twitter.com/fJOfluxMD0
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We can debate the relative importance of p-values, but if you're going to use a frequentist approach at least actually use it
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Best of all, I just did a bit of digging. Guess who the study is funded by?
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The answer that might not surprise you is the TRAVEL INDUSTRY Yes, the U.S. Travel Association provided the funds used to 'demonstrate' that vacations are good for your healthpic.twitter.com/r5gxvsOIXg
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Podcast is up on this nowhttps://twitter.com/GidMK/status/1143066757885595649?s=19 …
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End of conversation
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