it’s actually not that silly to suspect that the experimental group got lucky
True, but you shouldn’t simply assume that. How silly it is depends on the actual numbers. He hardly provided any evidence, and he didn’t seem to think it was about mere luckiness, but also that there was some selection effect because of dropouts.
Do you know the trial he’s talking about? I can’t find it and would like to know if he’s attacking a strawman.
It appears that he is talking about this trial which has a follow-up performed 8 years later here. This was enrolled in the late 90s, concerned Lipitor, enrolled ~80% men, and included patients from the UK, Ireland, and Nordic countries.
If that is the study, it doesn’t actually agree with what Steve Sailer says. In the first study, there is a 36% reduction in (non-fatal heart attacks + fatal heart disease), but the reduction in all-cause mortality is only 13% and not statistically significant. The trial was stopped early because the treatment arm had become highly statistically significant, which means that the lack of significance in all cause mortality isn’t necessarily surprising.
True, but you shouldn’t simply assume that. How silly it is depends on the actual numbers. He hardly provided any evidence, and he didn’t seem to think it was about mere luckiness, but also that there was some selection effect because of dropouts.
Do you know the trial he’s talking about? I can’t find it and would like to know if he’s attacking a strawman.
It appears that he is talking about this trial which has a follow-up performed 8 years later here. This was enrolled in the late 90s, concerned Lipitor, enrolled ~80% men, and included patients from the UK, Ireland, and Nordic countries.
If that is the study, it doesn’t actually agree with what Steve Sailer says. In the first study, there is a 36% reduction in (non-fatal heart attacks + fatal heart disease), but the reduction in all-cause mortality is only 13% and not statistically significant. The trial was stopped early because the treatment arm had become highly statistically significant, which means that the lack of significance in all cause mortality isn’t necessarily surprising.
Thanks for looking up the original study!
Thanks. Fits the description and if that really is the trial what he’s saying doesn’t make much sense.