User:Tstambulic/sandbox

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 * Note: Please use your sandbox to submit assignment # 3 by pasting it below. When uploading your improvements to the article talk page please share your exact proposed edit (not the full assignment 3).


 * Talk Page Template: CARL Medical Editing Initiative/Fall 2019/Talk Page Template

Assignment #3
I am proposing to add these sentences under the Epidemiology subheading on the Hodgkin Lymphoma wikipedia page:

United States

In 2016, there were 8,389 new cases and 1,000 mortalities attributed to Hodgkin Lymphoma, a decrease from the 8,625 new cases and 1,120 mortalities in 2015. As of January 1st, 2016, the 5-year limited duration prevalence of Hodgkin Lymphoma was 37,513 representing 0.71% of all diagnosed cancers in the U.S.

This change is necessary because there was no information about the epidemiology of Hodgkin's (********Hodgkin lymphoma*****) Lymphoma in the United States population on the original webpage. Adding this information will give context to the reader how the rates in the U.S. compare to the UK and Canada, which are the only countries currently listed under the Epidemiology subheading. I chose to use the CDC website for information on the epidemiology of Hodgkin Lymphoma in the United States because it contains comprehensive data statistics from the NPCR (National Program of Cancer Registries) that meet defined quality criteria and cover approximately 93% of the United States population. I thought that finding epidemiological data from systematic reviews or secondary sources would be less controlled and not as comprehensive as a national database such as the CDC. Ambiguity from this proposed change could be due to different websites/databases containing slightly different statistics on the prevalence and mortality rates of Hodgkin Lymphoma in the U.S. population. I tried to minimize this ambiguity by using data from the CDC website, which is a national comprehensive database and should not be biased. Validity issues from the CDC website should be minimized because pre-set criteria on the data collection was provided by the CDC which removed unreliable data from a small number of States, while still including data from the majority (93%) of the U.S. population. Despite these pre-specified criteria, however, there is still a risk of under-reporting or misclassification of Hodgkin Lymphoma data from the NPCR which may have decreased the accuracy of statistics posted on the CDC website.

****** Good critique, although nothing can be bias-free. CDC is "pro-science" and tries to minimize bias in it's reporting. However, bias invariably exists. For example, there can be participation bias during the collection of data. People of low socioeconomic status may not seek medical attention when they are sick, especially those without insurance, which may affect the prevalence and mortality rate.

Another source you may consider to use is the national cancer institute https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/hodg.html ****

Assignment #2
United States

In 2016, there were 8,389 new cases and 1,000 mortalities attributed to Hodgkin Lymphoma, a decrease from the 8,625 new cases and 1,120 mortalities in 2015. As of January 1st, 2016, the 5-year limited duration prevalence of Hodgkin Lymphoma was 37,513 representing 0.71% of all diagnosed cancers in the U.S.

Citation:

U.S. Cancer Statistics Working Group. U.S. Cancer Statistics Data Visualizations Tool, based on November 2018 submission data (1999-2016): U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Cancer Institute; www.cdc.gov/cancer/dataviz, June 2019.

1)    How you searched for a source (search strategy – where you went to find it).

I went to the main website of the CDC and searched “Lymphoma” into the general search bar. Under the Lymphoma information page, I then selected “Trends” under the Hodgkin Lymphoma subheading which took me to the United States Cancer Statistics webpage. This site displayed the incidence, prevalence, and mortality rates for Hodgkin Lymphoma in the entire United States population.

2) What potential sources were identified and considered (give examples of 1 or 2).

I considered finding epidemiological data from the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and from the website Cancer.net which collects and provides data from the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

3) Why the source was chosen (what made it better than other choices).

I chose to use the CDC website for information on the epidemiology of Hodgkin Lymphoma in the United States because it contains comprehensive data statistics from the NPCR (National Program of Cancer Registries) that meet defined quality criteria and cover approximately 93% of the United States population. I thought that finding epidemiological data from systematic reviews or secondary sources would be less controlled and not as comprehensive as a national database such as the CDC.

4) List at least three reasons why the source that was selected meets Wikipedia’s reliable medical sources (MEDRS) criteria.

1.     Under the MEDRS criteria, the CDC is listed as an acceptable recommendation from the list of major scientific authorities.

2.     The data for Hodgkin Lymphoma on the CDC website was relatively current and within the recommended 5-year window for recency.

3.     Incidence rates and counts that did not meet the U.S. Cancer Statistics publication criteria were removed from the data to minimize bias and improve accuracy.

5) How do you plan to use the source for improving the article?

I plan to use the data from the CDC webpage to provide a basic overview on the incidence, mortality, and overall prevalence of Hodgkin Lymphoma in the United States population since this data was missing, although it was given for other countries (Canada and the UK).