一个寻常的分析错误会阻碍生物医学研究并误导公众。2012年,《新英格兰医学杂志》刊登了一篇论文,声称吃巧克力可以提高认知功能。得出这一结论的根据是每个国家的诺贝尔奖得主数量与该国巧克力人均消费量具有强相关性。当我读到这篇论文时,我诧异于它竟然通过了同行评审,因为对我而言很显然作者犯了两个常见错误,这是我在生物医学文献中看到研究者进行相关分析时经常犯的错误。相关性描述了两个观察现象之间的线性关系 An unusual analytical error can hinder biomedical research and mislead the public. In 2012, the New England Journal of Medicine published a paper claiming that eating chocolate can improve cognitive function. This conclusion is based on the strong correlation between the number of Nobel laureates in each country and the per capita consumption of chocolates in the country. When I read this essay, I was amazed at how far it passed the peer review because it was clear to me that the author made two common mistakes I saw in the biomedical literature when the researcher was doing the relevant analysis Often made mistakes. Relevance describes the linear relationship between two observations