AAAAI - Fungi Stake a Claim in Allergic Sinusitis Pathology - another note

[Guest guest]

Sharon:

The AAAI paper reminded of something else:

A Mayo Clinic paper that Dr. Lipsey liked to cite in support of his

hypotheses:

Braun, et al: Eosinophilic Fungal Rhinosinusitis, A Common Disorder in

Europe?, Laryngoscope, 113, 264-269, 2003.

Conclusions:

1. " Based on our culture results, we conclude that nearly everybody has

fungi in his or her nose. "

Q: Duhhhhhhh - So what is the value??

2. " Our data show that one of the postulated criteria of AFS (positive

detection of fungi on histological examination or culture) is present in

91.3% of our patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). "

In the article, if you do the math, you see that it occurs in exactly 91.3%

of the " healthy control subjects " . There is NO difference between

'affected' and controls.

3. They talk about the number of cultures in the CRS group (290) versus

the control group (71) [range of genera the same 1-9]. But the group sizes

are different n=21 pos in controls v n=84 pos in CRS - so the rates are

CRS = 3.45 cultures per person vs controls at 3.38 cultures per person.

There are NO real, let alone statistically significant, differences in the

amounts of fungus in the noses between both groups.

POINT: When the uncertainty surrounding an issue is great - looks at the

details to ascertain weight of evidence.

Note: There were other merits to the paper.

Tony

.......................................................................

" Tony " Havics, CHMM, CIH, PE

pH2, LLC

5250 E US 36, Suite 830

Avon, IN 46123

www.ph2llc.com

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