Ask HN: What are your sources for reliable Health and Medical information

[ludovicianul]

I find it harder and harder to find reliable health-related information. Covid just polarised people: you were either pro-vaccines (i.e. pro-science) or against (therefore anti-science). As we see now things are a bit more nuanced and you can start having conversations around the topic without the labelling. But this might be an extreme case. I'm also talking about everyday health and medical info.

So, what are your news or personal site/blogs (maybe Twitter accounts?) you rely on?

[znpy]

I rely on my brother that has been studying medicine for 11 years and is an actual doctor of medicine and surgeon.

[verdverm]

Huberman Lab podcast seems pretty trustworthy, he does his homework and has excellent guests

One guest made an interesting point, you should use medical papers more as a guide what not to do than what to do, negative effects are more reliable due to the constraints in studies

[no-dr-onboard → verdverm]

Definitely agree with the HL suggestion and guest comment.

There is something to be said about personal experience and responsibility when consuming advice from a medical source, be it trusted or not. A medical doctor standing on the nations stage urging everyone to do the same thing (without any sort of responsibility to you, the one taking the advice) is hardly a prescription to leave your mind at the altar of “science”. My point here is that you should factor in your personal experience and local knowledge of the topic before imbibing in this type of nationwide directive.

[Terretta]

If your example of pro/anti vax being "nuance" was just an example, and you don't actually think being "against vax" is supported by current evidence, then the answer to your question is to go with sources that tend to align with meta surveys. This will filter out fringe and anti-science, generally being more reliable.

. . .

How do you know whether it's reliable or not? Or do you mean that reliably supports a non-medical worldview one way or another?

Interesting framing, as if looking for nuance in "reliable" health info that -- implied by your example -- would include info "against vaccines" when being against vax tends to suggest either anti-science or perhaps a preference to go back to survival of the fittest, when measels, mumps, rubella, helped cull weak kids in challenged communities. Where's the nuance in that?

Maybe you meant against boosting immunity with mRNA tech to smooth SARS-COV pandemic spread? Sure, that's nuanced. But you wrote pro or against vaccines in general.

If you're unhappy that anti-vax material isn't as widely published, consider that could be because it's not as widely valid, so doesn't withstand peer review or other scrutiny. Perhaps given the facts scientifically in evidence, an absence of such nuance suggests the publisher may not be more political but simply more "reliable".

[ludovicianul → Terretta]

I was strictly referring to the polarisation of opinions in the context of Covid vaccines. It was just a statement. (I have all my shots, covid + recommended vaccines, regular flu, etc). I don't want to go everyday to studies, as this is not may job (although I want to have the possibility to do this when I want, which I currently can), but I need a reliable source to do this (being their actual day to day job) and read that reliable summary somewhere.

[Terretta → ludovicianul]

On COVID specifically, Five Thirty Eight has an interesting project:

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/covid-19-updates/

For general and specific health questions, this is reasonably curated:

https://medlineplus.gov/healthtopics.html

For a reesearch feed:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/news/top/health/

For a variety of sources, generally reputable:

https://openmd.com/directory/news

[Terretta → Terretta]

One more, a reliable attempt at making sense of sources, started during COVID but now broader:

https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/

Who am I?

My name is Dr. Katelyn Jetelina. I have a Masters in Public Health and PhD in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. I am an epidemiologist, data scientist, wife, and mom to two little girls.

During the day I work at a nonpartisan health policy think tank and am a senior scientific consultant to a number of organizations, including the CDC.

At night I write this newsletter. My main goal is to “translate” the ever-evolving public health science so that people will be well equipped to make evidence-based decisions. This newsletter started in March 2020 to update students, faculty, and staff on the developments of the pandemic. In 36 months, it’s grown to an international audience.

What is this?

The purpose of this newsletter is to provide a direct line of “translated” public health science to the local, national, and international community. Over the past two years, I’ve covered COVID-19 topics ranging from variants, to vaccines and booster roll outs, to exciting new developments like antivirals, and context to some of our greatest unanswered questions.

YLE has also started to dip into other public health topics, like mental health, other infectious diseases, and public health current events (thanks to the feedback from the YLE audience).

My hope is that, together, YLE provides breadth and depth into the pandemic, epidemiology, and public health overall. Public health touches all of our lives, even outside of a pandemic.

[ludovicianul → Terretta]

Thanks!