Same Diabetes Data Two very Different Headlines
Scott Benner
This really pissed me off!
In the past week I've seen two headlines shared on social media about type 1 diabetes. The first one that I came across from Sciencetimes.com reported, "Type 1 Diabetes Shortens the Lifespans of Sufferers". Needless to say I didn't jump to read this one - just too depressing.
A few days later I saw this article from Harvard.edu, "People with type 1 diabetes are living longer". This off course seemed strange because only a few days before, the first headline was saying the exact opposite. This stark contrast caused me to sit down to read both articles.
What I learned was actually uplifting but I remained irritated by the lazy 'journalism' of Science Times. Wait for it... both article were written based on the same research. They were both reporting that people living with type 1 are living significantly longer than in previous history. One just choose to use a click bait style headline, while the other chose to be straight forward.
I wanted to bring this to your attention in case you saw the Science Times piece and were bummed out by it. I also wanted to point out how misleading headlines can be and remind you that most websites are more interested in getting you to click than they are in actually informing you of something important.
The Science Times piece, which if you can get past the shitty headline is informative is here - http://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/2481/20150109/type-1-diabetes-shortens-the-lifespans-of-sufferers.htm
I however prefer the Harvard piece that can be found here - http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/people-type-1-diabetes-living-longer-201501087611
Be careful what you believe, share and take to heart... Type 1 diabetes and the ways that people are living with it is actually constantly improving and significantly more positive than even a very history. There are plenty of reason to be positive!
Link to research that both articles refer to: JAMA Abstract
Now before you go, I was hoping you could help me out.
I am in the process of adding a podcast to the blog. Entries will be conversational, additional content for a blog posts (like today), interviews, news, and revisits of older post. I'm far enough along with getting things up and running that it was time to do a test show. It's not perfect yet but I'm ready to let you hear it to get feedback on the idea, find out how it sounds and the rest. It's not available yet anywhere but in this post... but in the future I'll be posting across all podcast platforms. For now, I could really use your feedback on any aspect that you have an opinion on - thinking of calling it The Juicebox Podcast... Thank you in advance for your opinions!