Acetaminophen, Risk-Taking, and Covid-19

Does the world’s most common pain relief drug do more than just reduce pain? Recent headlines would have you believe that it also reduces your perception of risk, resulting in more risk-taking behaviors. We think it’s time to take a closer look at the details before deciding to ditch the Tylenol.

Related HCT episodes:

Sources:
Be sure to check out our podcast!

Other Healthcare Triage Links:

Credits:
Aaron Carroll -- Writer
Meredith Danko – Social Media
Tiffany Doherty -- Writer and Script Editor
John Green -- Executive Producer
Stan Muller -- Director, Producer
Mark Olsen – Art Director, Producer

Images and footage
Storyblocks/Digital Video Bank
Storyblocks/ToL

#healthcaretriage #covid-19 #acetaminophen

[jessice]

Thank you for presenting the facts and flaws in the study. You guys are doing a great job for science! 💊💉

[stuiesmb]

Even the balloon test itself seems incredibly unrelated to actual risk.

I can’t believe this is being used as an assessment of risk-taking behaviour, nevermind being linked to increases or decreases in risk due to medication.

[babylonfive]

Question: Why didn't the authors conduct multiple experiment sessions with the same participants over a few days, swapping the acetaminophen and sugar pill in two identical tests. This would seemingly remove the variation of individual risk-taking and focus on the delta.

[MedlifeCrisis]

How does this garbage get published?! Medical journals are hardly without fault but psychology and neuroscience journals are beyond laughable. This is truly embarrassing, not to mention devoid of any causal or statistical sense.

[wezul]

I am so very thankful for this channel and others like it. Because the mainstream media can't seem to "do better" - at least we have access to better through you guys. :)

[doctaflo]

0:22 —yes! thank you!

(i was one of “the few” requesters for this topic, and Healthcare Triage _responded to the actual comment_ wherein i made said request. i can only conclude that i am now de facto boss of Healthcare Triage. message me with your topic recommendations as i’m sure Dr. Carroll is personally monitoring my social, and i’ll setup a Patreon for bribes. cheers :0)

[dailydoseofmedicinee]

Acetaminophen belongs to drug classes analgesics (pain relievers) and antipyretics (fever reducers). It works by elevating the pain threshold so that only more intense pain is felt. It also tells the brain to cool off the body during fever👍

[d]

I don't think the media will do better until they stop making money from scary, inflated headlines.

[DinoRamzi]

“Press, do better!”
But that implies you know what they are trying to do. Clearly they have no interest in communication nuanced information. But they succeeded spectacularly at their primary aim: getting attention.
Pro tip: Fear and outrage are the two best strategies.

[myothersoul]

Someone should do a study of the social sciences effects on risky statistics and p-value hacking.

[Phlegethon]

Why does the media never have people write about things they have the slightest qualification to write about when it comes to global affairs and medicine

[irinaphoenix]

Is there a study that correlates this balloon game with actual life risk taking? Like find some extreme sports enthusiasts or something and see if it even means anything.

[Saintboyslik]

How do you get a median of 8.5? The balloons popped or they didnt

[BeCurieUs]

Pumping balloons as an analog for general

[mattwodziak]

I think you hit on something that explains why young people are the largest infected demographic in this country. Clearly young people are bigger risk takers but you’ve highlighted exactly why. I learned something today!

[LordMarcus]

If they wanted to measure honest risk-taking, set up a casino, but give your players $X starting funds so they technically have no buy-in of their own and it's not an illegal casino operation (at least in my state) (also prevents people from having to use their own money, which is likely only to get people who already take risks into your study) (also, $X should be pretty significant, if you really want to measure risk; for university kids, I'm thinking something based on the price of pot or booze or a nice night out for two). Make the rule be that they have to make at least one minimum bet before they can opt to quit (to create the illusion of buy-in, and set those sunk-cost or gambler's fallacy gears a-goin'), then see which group comes out with the best average outcome, after accounting for luck in whatever game they're playing (or, eliminating luck by determining the outcomes before the bets are ever made, therefore only having to account for the timing of the player's choice to quit).

[mightyoak]

Great analysis. When it comes to getting the truth, media is the last place you want to check.

[splashmt]

But wasn’t the control groups also pre-25yo?

[MrRoboskippy]

I'm a blood donor. If I become sick with Covid, will I have a more difficult time fighting the virus because I'm low on blood?

[seanrichards]

To be fair, I’m sure the average media editors science education ended in their Jr or Sr year in high school and likely don’t know much/anything about science