Why research is tricky

Sleeping pill and death/cancer study

This study said that anybody who takes sleeping aids - they look at prescription ones - has a higher risk of death or cancer than people who don't take them.  It looks good, but on a quick scan, I have to ask: causes of death?  What sort of medical history did the individuals the researchers looked at have?  It was more a study of convienence, not truly random, since they only used one health system in Pennsylvania, might there be a correlation between the patients there?

It's an okay study, for what they looked at, and the researchers did acknowledge most of the limitations, but the news has picked it up and is trying to make it sensational, which I really don't like.  That sort of thing bugs me, because it's pushing boy who cried wolf territory.  Can sleep aids be dangerous?  Most certainly.  Overdoses can lead to death, lingering effects (the hangover feeling) can and will make it dangerous to operate machinery, but that sort of thing needs to be, and usually is, covered by the prescribing doctor, a nurse or two, and the pharmacist who dispenses the medication.  I occasionally take a small dose of Ambien - probably will tonight, simply because I've knee pain that my OTC painkillers and anti-inflammatories aren't touching - but the first few times I took it I didn't drive the next day, and I made sure that I didn't have to do anything important.  Now I know how it affects me, and I still don't take it on a night where I have to be up early the next day, but I'm less worried about jumping into my car 12 hours after I've taken it because I know that I'm awake by then.  But news articles like this are designed to scare, to call into doubt.

Bah.  I'm grumpy because my knee and back hurt.