The Perils of “Survivorship Bias”
The Perils of “Survivorship Bias”
Section titled “The Perils of “Survivorship Bias””
Metadata
Section titled “Metadata”- Author: Katy Milkman
- Full Title: The Perils of “Survivorship Bias”
- Category: #articles
- URL: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-perils-of-survivorship-bias/
Highlights
Section titled “Highlights”- Similarly, there was a work done that showed that people who had car accidents were also more likely to have cancer. It was kind of a puzzle until you think, “Wait, who do we measure cancer in?” We don’t measure cancer in everybody. We measure cancer in people who have been tested. And who do we test? We test people who are in hospitals. So someone goes to the hospital for a car accident, and then I do an MRI and find a tumor. And now that leads to car accidents appearing to elevate the level of tumors. So anything that gets you into hospitals raises your “cancer rate,” but that’s not your real cancer rate.