Why do doctors use treatments that do not work?

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

Who cites it

31 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

1. Doctors as patients: a systematic review of doctors' health access and the barriers they experience.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2008
   Pooled it
2. Sicily statement on evidence-based practice.BMC medical education · 2005
   Guideline
3. The safety of antiepileptic drug withdrawal in patients with non-epileptic seizures.Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry · 2005
   Trial
4. The early warning paradox.NPJ digital medicine · 2025
   Article
5. The perspectives of clinical level medical students on animal-assisted therapy: a study in Ghana.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2024
   Article
6. The psychosocial response to a terrorist attack at Manchester Arena, 2017: a process evaluation.BMC psychology · 2021
   Article
7. Methylprednisolone in Pediatric Cardiac Surgery: Is There Enough Evidence?Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2021
   Review
8. Individualized ovarian stimulation in IVF/ICSI treatment: it is time to stop using high FSH doses in predicted low responders.Human reproduction (Oxford, England) · 2020
   Article
9. Invited commentary-WHO Classification of Tumours: How should tumors be classified? Expert consensus, systematic reviews or both?International journal of cancer · 2020
   Article
10. Inappropriate use of ritodrine hydrochloride for threatened preterm birth in Japan: a retrospective cohort study using a national inpatient database.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2019
    Article
11. Reduction of routine radiographs in the follow-up of distal radius and ankle fractures: Barriers and facilitators perceived by orthopaedic trauma surgeons.Journal of evaluation in clinical practice · 2019
    Article
12. The Challenges and Opportunities of Pharmacoepidemiology in Bone Diseases.JBMR plus · 2018
    Review
13. Addressing overuse in emergency medicine: evidence of a role for greater patient engagement.Clinical and experimental emergency medicine · 2017
    Review
14. Comparison of veterinary drugs and veterinary homeopathy: part 2.The Veterinary record · 2017
    Review
15. Parents' Expectations and Experiences of Antibiotics for Acute Respiratory Infections in Primary Care.Annals of family medicine · 2017
    Article
16. Why do general practitioners prescribe antibiotics for upper respiratory tract infections to meet patient expectations: a mixed methods study.BMJ open · 2016
    Article
17. Developing a psychiatrist-patient relationship when both people are doctors: a qualitative study.BMJ open · 2016
    Article
18. Prescribing for personality disorder: qualitative study of interviews with general and forensic consultant psychiatrists.Psychiatric bulletin (2014) · 2014
    Article
19. Exciting new ECMO technology awaits compelling scientific evidence for widespread use in adults with respiratory failure.Intensive care medicine · 2012
    Article
20. Systematic reviews, systematic error and the acquisition of clinical knowledge.BMC medical research methodology · 2010
    Article

Corrections and comments

• Commented on by
  If it doesn't work, stop it: don't just stand there, hold my hand.2004
• Commented on by
  If it doesn't work, stop it: Small question with big answers.2004
• Commented on by
  If it doesn't work, stop it: medicine is a science of prediction and intervention.2004
• Commented on by
  If it doesn't work, stop it: "ineffective" treatments might be in a patient's best interests.2004
• Erratum issued

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

Abstract

PubMed holds no abstract for this paper.

Indexed as