RETRACTION

RETRACTION in medical research is a serious concern. So much of what we know is based on prior publications what happens when a publication is retracted?

In DynaMed Plus we have a topic on Bisphosphonates for treatment and prevention of osteoporosis and this topic includes 2 summaries of randomized trials published in 2005 suggesting or showing efficacy for risedronate for preventing hip fracture in elderly men with stroke and in elderly women with Alzheimer disease.

More than 10 years later, and just now, JAMA Internal Medicine has retracted both of these trial reports stating "has been retracted due to acknowledgment of scientific misconduct resulting in concerns about data integrity and inappropriate assignment of authorship"

Perhaps this incident will be a CATALYST for considering how quickly and comprehensively we address RETRACTIONS.

Interestingly, both of these articles have "DynaMed commentary" showing the published results did not seem accurate. Perhaps we need to consider such translation problems in medical publishing a marker for quality of evidence.