Posted by Sarah in NH on 5/9/2008, 13:21:40, in reply to "Refrigerator Mothers or why I have no use for studies or statistics - a rant"
I got carpal tunnel (and had surgery) years ago, and much later found out that studies prove people with a family history of arthritis are much more likely to get carpal tunnel than the "general" population.
My grandmother had arthritis and my aunt does too.
My cousin also got carpal tunnel (some years after I did) so it seems to me that it's true. Of course, the fact that I have been a musician all my life and also worked a lot of "manual" jobs were contributors too- it's a cumulative effect.
The problem is that many conditions, like autism, (and carpal tunnel) are not due to one specific factor. Studies and statistics can only give you part of the picture.
I read on JAMA the article about the link between mental illness and autism and it makes sense that this might be a factor. Schizophrenia also has a genetic component- it's another condition that affects the brain function. Doctors have known for years that having a parent with a mental illness makes it more likely for the child/ren to develop it than one without the family history.
Diabetes and a lot of other conditions affect the body and they all have genetic components as well as lifestyle and enviornmental factors too.
It's sad that there is always a need to assign "blame" for things. You certainly have no control over your DNA!
To be fair, we do have control over our lifestyle factors (which is why I have much less sympathy for smokers who get lung cancer than non-smokers who get it) but at some point it becomes counterproductive to point fingers.
You have to take some of these studies with a grain of salt. I look at who did the study, who paid for the study (to look for bias), and how large/long it was. A lot of them are too small (or they say the drug works but it's sponsored by the manufacturer LOL) and many too vague to be useful. It doesn't mean they are all wrong, though.
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