PODCAST · science
Talk Evidence
by The BMJ
The podcast from The BMJ for evidence based medicine Talk Evidence: where research, guidance and practice are debated and demystified
Episodes
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The power and the pitfalls of early diagnosis
There is a growing market of new diagnostic tests being targeted directly to consumers, often before high-quality evidence about their effectiveness is available. This is causing issues in clinical practice as patients arrive at the NHS’s front door with results that have alarmed them. The…
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Gabapentinoid pain meds linked to self-harm, and getting to the Core of GRADE
Helen MacDonald and Juan Franco are back to examine the newest in evidence based medicine. In this episode: gabapentinoids are medications routinely prescribed for treating epilepsy and nerve pain. But, they come with side effects; among them - dizziness, cognitive impairment, and a dent to motor...
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The evidence on physician associates, and the evidence against back pain injections
Helen MacDonald and Juan Franco are back, magnifying glasses in hand, to take a closer look at what’s happening in evidence based medicine. In this episode: the NHS increasingly relies on physician associates to plug some of its leaks. But, what do academic studies show about the effectiveness of...
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Anti-HIV injections vs. oral medication, and best uses for AI in healthcare
Helen Macdonald and Juan Franco are back, delving into some new evidence. Studies showing that bi-annual injection that could prevent HIV transmission sound incredible, but will the implementation research find that the tried and tested pill regime is better? Jen Manne-Goehler, Assistant…
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UTI dipstick tests, and the effects of staff turnover on patients
In this first episode of 2025, hosts Helen MacDonald and Juan Franco focus on hospitals - asking how useful UTI dipstick tests really are for acutely ill patients, and what are the effects of staff turnover on patient care in NHS hospitals? 01:11 The use of dipsticks for acutely ill UTI patients...
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Talking Christmas evidence 2024
In this special festive episode, Helen MacDonald, Juan Franco, and guest Tim Feeney discuss three intriguing themes from BMJ's 2024 Christmas edition: cognitive dysfunction in careers that require spatial cognition, and in large language models; the effectiveness of heated mittens on…
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Starting to measure sustainability, and changes in breast cancer screening
Measuring the carbon impact of healthcare interventions is essential if we're going to make the sector sustainable, however tracing all of the emmission from even a simple treatment can be tricky. Romi Haas, a research fellow at Monash Department of Clinical Epidemiology joins us to explain how…
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The evidence on deprescribing
It's a therapeutics evidence feast this month. We start with deprescribing in older adults - Anna Hung, assistant professor at the Duke University School of Medicine has written a summary of the evidence, and we discuss why there are so few trials on an important topic. Metformin is typically…
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Will semaglutide buck the trend of other weight loss drugs?
Helen Macdonald, BMJ's publication ethics and content integrity editor, and Juan Franco, editor of BMJ EBM are back with another episode of Talk Evidence. This month, we'll be focussing on semaglutide, for managing obesity. Interviews with James Cave, editor-in-chief of Drug and Therapeutic...
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Insulin without refrigeration and the complexities of consent
The December edition of the Talk Evidence podcast discusses the complexities of seeking consent from patients who are part of large data sets, and some new research to help patients living with diabetes in places without certain power supplies. First patient consent and data - in the UK, two...
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Low carb and cancer screening
Each episode of Talk Evidence we take a dive into an issue or paper which is in the news, with a little help from some knowledgeable guests to help us to understand what it all means for clinical care, policy, or research. In this episode: Helen Macdonald take a deep dive into cancer screening...
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Talking overdiagnosis
In this month's Talk Evidence, Helen and Juan are reporting from Preventing Overdiagnosis - the conference that raises issues of diagnostic accuracy, and asks if starting the process of medicalisation is always the right thing to do for patients. In this episode, they talk about home testing,...
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Ensuring the integrity of research, and the future of AI as authors
In this month's Talk Evidence, we're getting a little meta - how do we keep an eye on research to make sure it's done with integrity. Helen Macdonald is BMJ's Publication ethics and content integrity editor - and we quiz her about what that actually means on a day to day basis. Ensuring the...
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Talk Evidence - post pandemic pruning, breast cancer screening, and orphan drugs
In this episode of Talk Evidence, Helen Macdonald, Joe Ross, and Juan Franco are back to update us on what's happening in the world of medical evidence. Firstly, the news about the end of the covid-19 pandemic was trumpeted, but the changes to research funding have been more quite - and the team...
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Talk Evidence - post pandemic pruning, breast cancer screening, and orphan drugs
In this episode of Talk Evidence, Helen Macdonald, Joe Ross, and Juan Franco are back to update us on what's happening in the world of medical evidence. Firstly, the news about the end of the covid-19 pandemic was trumpeted, but the changes to research funding have been more quite - and the team...
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Talk Evidence - cloning, reporting, and disseminating
Helen Macdonald, Juan Franco, and Joe Ross are back with our monthly update on the world of evidence based medicine. This episode delves into new methodologies which can use observational data to emulate trial data. We discuss a new systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs for surgical…
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Talk Evidence - automatic approval, evidence apps, and pay for performance data
In this month’s Talk Evidence, Helen Macdonald, Juan Franco and Joseph Ross are back to talk us through some of the latest research, They’ll talk about pay-for-perfomance schemes, and whether the data they routinely collect is measuring outcomes or tickboxes. They’ll also talk about a new…
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Talk Evidence - masks, chronic pain, and baby milk formulae claims
In this episode of Talk Evidence, Helen Macdonald is joined by Juan Franco and Joe Ross, to bring you the newest evidence in The BMJ. First, chronic pain. As prescribers move away from opioids, Juan finds an overview of systematic reviews asking whether anti-depressants might help. Joe finds new...
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Talk Evidence - excess deaths, the ONS, and the healthcare crisis
In this week's episode, we're focusing on covid and the ongoing crisis in the NHS. Helen Macdonald, Juan Franco and Joseph Ross cast their evidence seeking eyes over research into outcomes as well as the workload of doctors. Firstly, Joe tells us about a new big data study into longer term…
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Talking evidence at Christmas
It's almost time for the Christmas edition of the BMJ to hit your doormats, and in this festive edition of Talk Evidence we're going to be talking Christmas research. Joining Helen and Juan, we have Tim Feeney, BMJ research editor and researcher into Surgical outcomes at Boston University. In…
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Talk Evidence - endometriosis, falling, and better EBM
In this month's episode, Helen Juan and Joe delve into the clinical - with a new review of endometriosis, and why the difficulty in diagnosis has lead to a dearth of evidence and attention on the condition. Joe tells us about a risk prediction tool that could be useful in helping to mitigate some...
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Talk Evidence - Diabetes data, colonoscopies, and researchers behaving badly
In this month's Talk Evidence, Helen Macdonald, The BMJ's research integrity editor, is joined again by Juan Franco, editor in chief of BMJ EBM, and Joe Ross, US research editor. They're straying beyond the pages of The BMJ, and discussing an NEJM paper about colonoscopy for colorectal cancer...
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Talk Evidence - Inquiring about covid, burnout, and marginal data
It's October's Talk Evidence, and that means the autumn is upon us including those autumnal viruses. Here in the UK covid is on the rise, and Joe Ross is looking at some research on how good those elusive lateral flows are at detecting infection among people with symptoms of covid. Juan will give...
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Talk Evidence - a new way of understanding antidepressant effectiveness
In this week's episode, Joe Ross, professor of medicine at Yale, and The BMJ's US research editor, and Juan Franco, researcher at Heinrich-Heine-Universität and editor in chief of BMJ EBM are in the hot-seat. They will discuss new research on the effectiveness of antidepressants - based on all…
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Talk Evidence - shoulders, knees, and woes
In this episode, Juan Franco, editor in chief of BMJ EBM, and Helen Macdonald, The BMJ's research integrity editor, sit down to discuss what's new in the world of evidence. Firstly, last week they went to the first EBM Live conference for two years - and report back on what happened when the...
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Talk Evidence - political persuasion and mortality, too much medicine
In this week's episode, Helen Macdonald is joined by Joseph Ross, US research editor for The BMJ, and Juan Franco, editor of BMJ EBM. They begin by discussing a review of obesity interventions in primary care, and Joe wonders if GPs are really the best people to tackle the issue....
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Talk Evidence - evidence in Roe vs Wade, MI treatment variation, and tribal methodologies
Helen Macdonald, The BMJ's research integrity editor is back with another episode, and this week is joined by Joe Ross, professor of medicine and public health at Yale, and US research editor for The BMJ, and Juan Franco, editor in chief of BMJ EBM, and Professor at the Instituto Universitario...
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Covid vaccine safety, Methenamine hippurate, and intersectionality
In this episode of Talk Evidence, Helen Macdonald, the BMJ’s research integrity editor is joined by Joe Ross, US research editor, and Juan Franco, editor in chief of BMJEBM, to talk about all things evidence. Joe gives us an update about covid, including new research on safety of the vaccine...
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Talk Evidence - isolation periods, openness, and environmental impacts
In the first Talk Evidence of 2022, we'll be asking about the evidence for isolation - now that isolation periods are being reduced, or even stopped in the event of a negative lateral flow test, we'll find out what data that's based on, and if it's appropriate. Vaccinations and treatments for...
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Talking Christmas Evidence 2021
The BMJ has special criteria for considering Christmas research: first it should make you laugh, and then it should make you think. In this festive episode of the Talk Evidence podcast, our regular panel of Helen Macdonald and Joe Ross are again joined by Juan Franco, editor in chief of BMJ...
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Talk Evidence - Bones, nutrition, pain relief, and overdiagnosis.
In this month’s Talk evidence, we’re going back to our roots and avoiding covid - so sit back and listen to Helen Macdonald and Joe Ross discuss a new nutrition study to prevent fractures in older adults by eating dairy, and a meta-analysis which helps you choose pain relief medications for...
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Talk Evidence - testing for respiratory tract infections, cannabis for pain, & covid outcomes
This week our regular panelists, Helen Macdonald and Joe Ross, are joined by Juan Franco, editor in chief of BMJ Evidence Based Medicine - to take a primary care focussed look at what's been happening in the world of evidence. On this week’s episode. As kids go back to school, winter bugs surge…
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Talk Evidence - real world vaccine data, GP records and CVD
In this month's Talk Evidence, Helen Macdonald and Joe Ross are back with a wry look at the world of Evidence Based Medicine. They give us a round up of real world data emerging to address various uncertainties about vaccinations against covid Helen has an update on NHS Digital’s project to…
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Talk Evidence - Freedom Day
The 19th of July in the UK saw the relaxation of covid rules that have been in place for 18 months - social distancing requirements in venues, mask wearing in public will no longer be legally mandated. There are a lot of questions about what this will mean for the pandemic, and in this episode of...
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Talk Evidence - GP data, excess mortality and FDA approval
In this Talk Evidence, Helen Macdonald, Joe Ross and Duncan Jarvies discuss what's going on in the world of EBM. Firstly, a while ago on the podcast, we concluded that excess mortality would be the best way to measure the impact of the pandemic - and now a new paper looks at different country's...
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Talk Evidence covid-19 update - Research on vaccine safety, treatment for dementia
In this week's Talk Evidence, Joe Ross, BMJ editor and professor at Yale again joins Helen Macdonald to talk about emerging evidence on Covid-19. They also welcome to the podcast Juan Franco, family physician in Buenos Aires, and professor at the Instituto Universitario Hospital Italiano, and new...
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Talk Evidence - children and covid, varients of concern, ivormectin update
The evidence geekery continues, and this week Helen Macdonald and Duncan Jarvies are joined again by Joe Ross, The BMJ's US research editor, and professor of medicine and public health at Yale. This week we update you on treatment - the WHO's guidelines for covid and ivermectin, and why they're…
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Talk Evidence - Inside the JCVI, and the key to grading evidence
In a slightly different talk evidence, Helen Macdonald and Duncan Jarvies are bringing you a couple, of in depth interviews, Firstly, Anthony Harnden, GP, academic and member of the UK's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation takes us inside their decision making, and explains what...
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Talk Evidence - re-hospitalistion for covid-19, remote hypertension intervention
The evidence geekery continues, and this week Helen Macdonald and Duncan Jarvies are joined by Joe Ross, The BMJ's US research editor, and professor of medicine and public health at Yale. This week we pick up on a preprint in medRxiv, which has been attracting attention on social media - it tries...
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Talk Evidence - Lateral flow tests update, not the best public health approach
In this episode of Talk Evidence, Jon Deeks, professor of biostatistics at the University of Birmingham, returns to the pod with an update on lateral flow tests - and why the government plan for using them in asymptomatic screening for covid-19 doesn't follow the science. We're also joined by...
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A (non-systematic) evidence review of 2020
As 2021 hoves into view, we look back at a year of extraordinary evidence. Helen Macdonald is joined by Joe Ross, one of The BMJ's research editors, as well as a researcher at Yale. They discuss the way in which clinical pre-prints have become an important part of the research ecosystem…
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Talking Christmas evidence - how Christmas research is chosen
If you've had time to digest this year's Christmas edition of The BMJ, you might have wondered how those papers get into The BMJ. Well in this Talk Evidence podcast, Helen Macdonald, UK research editor at The BMJ talks to two of her research team colleagues, John Fletcher and Tim Feeney, as they...
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Talk evidence covid-19 update - poor public messaging, and vaccine approval data
The vaccines are being rolled out - but approval is still on an emergency basis, and the evidence underpinning those decisions is only just becoming available for scrutiny. In this podcast we talk to Baruch Fischhoff, professor at Carnegie Mellon University and expert on public health…
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Talk evidence covid-19 update - uncertainty in treatment, uncertainty in prevention
Uncertainty abounds - even as we get better data on treatments, with the big RCTs beginning to report, and new trials on masks, the evidence remains uncertain, in both the statistical realm (confidence intervals crossing 0) and in what to do in the face of that continuing lack of clear effect. As...
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Talk evidence covid-19 update - talking risk, remdesivir, and relevant research
In this talk evidence covid-19 update, we’re taking on risk - how do you figure out your individual risk of dying from the disease? Try QCovid, but remember that it’s figuring out your risk back in April. When it comes to talking about risk, very few people actually engage with the number, so…
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Talk Evidence covid-19 update - antigen testing and developing non drug evidence
In this Talk Evidence covid-19 update, Jon Deeks, professor of biostatistics at the University of Birmingham gives us an update on testing technology. Will the point of care tests make a different to big live events, and how research and regulation need to change to tame the testing wild west.…
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Talk evidence covid-19 update - covid in kids, and the winter cold season
This episode was recorded on 18 September - just before the news came out about the new lockdown measures. We’ll hear Carl and Helen’s thoughts, but we also want to hear a broad range of views - so get in touch at bmj.com/podcasts. (1.15) The kids are back in school, and people are worried about...
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Talk Evidence Covid-19 Update - Lockdown, a spoonful of honey, and weight loss
There are have been local lockdowns in the UK, in places such as Oldham, Birmingham, Manchester – but what is the criteria for making that decision? In the non-Covid world: does honey alleviate symptoms in upper-respiratory tract infections? When does unexpected weight-loss warrant further...
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Talk evidence covid-19 update - Living meta-analysis and covid uncertainty
1.00) Carl has been looking at PCR testing, and explains why it picks up both viable SARS-cov-2, but also fragments of it’s RNA - leading to potential over diagnosis. (8.50 ) What did the Living systematic review and accompanying guidelines say about treatment options for covid-19 (14.35) Helen...
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Talk Evidence covid-19 update - How well have physical distancing measures worked?
Fresh outbreaks of covid in Europe and a wave of infections in the United States have been in the news this week, highlighting the renewed need for social distancing – but to what extent? In this edition, we explore the real-world evidence for physical distancing measures as well as the research...
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