President, Darke County Senior Scribes
D O U B L E   B L I N D
By Delbert Blickenstaff, M.D. 

Have you been advised by a well-meaning friend to take the little pink pills for your aches and pains because “Aunt Myrtle took them and they cured her lumbago?”  There are several things wrong with your friend’s advice.  Did Aunt Myrtle really have “lumbago?”  Would she have improved without taking the little pink pills?  Do you have the same problem Aunt Myrtle had?  Your friend’s method of reporting medical results is called “testimonial,” and it’s a very unreliable method. 

Reliable scientific investigation uses the Double Blind method.  This story from the University of Oregon School of Medicine explains how this method is used.  Two Dermatologists had done some investigations of a drug which they called “8-MOP,” or 8-methoxypsoralen, and which was supposed to protect against sunburn.  They used a poorly controlled method of investigation in which they would hand out capsules containing 8-MOP to students who were going skiing.  When the students returned the doctors asked how well they thought they were protected from sunburn.  A staff Statistician looked at their methods and decided that there was too much testimonial reporting, and so he planned a double blind study.      

In preparation for this big study some details had to be worked out and Louise and I volunteered to be subjects.  Portland is not known for smog but the air on Mt. Hood was considered to be clearer.  So several of us went up to Timberline Lodge which was about 5000 ft. altitude where there was nothing but pure air.  We lay down on soft blankets, exposing only a small patch of skin to the sun.  We listened to a mountain stream and the singing of birds while we cooked in the sun.  It was hard work but someone had to do it. 

The University obtained the cooperation of the Arizona State Prison, and inmate volunteers.  The experimental subjects were divided into two groups, A and B.  Each group was given a capsule before each test.  Only the Statistician knew what was in the capsules.  The subjects were exposed to direct sunlight for a measured period of time, usually one or two hours.  At the end of the tests the Dermatologists graded the degree of sunburn on each subject, not knowing which group got the 8-MOP and which group got placebos.  At the end the code was broken and the results were obvious.  Instead of protecting against sunburn, as the doctors had anticipated, the 8-MOP actually augmented the effects of sun exposure.  Using the double blind method of experimentation, both the subjects and the doctors were kept in the dark until the scores were in.  Only then could one reach an unbiased conclusion. 

So Aunt Myrtle, I’m glad that you recovered from your lumbago, but your testimony is really not very reliable. 

Delbert Blickenstaff, M.D.