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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Health & medicine fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about health & medicine. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

13,675 published reviews in this topic

Deutsche Presse-AgenturHealth & medicine

Die Mund-Nasen-Maske, Symbol der Corona-Pandemie, sorgt weiter für Diskussionen. In den vergangenen Tagen tauchten in den sozialen Medien wieder vermehrt Behauptungen auf, das Tragen von Masken helfe nicht, die Pandemie einzudämmen. Die an vielen Orten geltende Maskenpflicht sei darum unsinnig. Auch der Nutzen anderer Maßnahmen wie etwa der Einsatz von Desinfektionsmitteln wird infrage gestellt.

Publisher’s rating: Eine Vielzahl aktueller Studien belegt: Das Tragen von Gesichtsmasken trägt bedeutend zur Eindämmung der Corona-Pandemie bei. Masken können auch vor schweren Krankheitsverläufen bewahren.

The review addresses claims circulating on social media that masks do not help contain the pandemic, that mask requirements are therefore pointless, and that measures such as disinfecting should be questioned. It assesses masks using a mix of studies and reported observations, while also discussing hygiene measures rather than treating masks as the only preventive measure. The review traces changing guidance: it says the WHO’s March 26, 2020, message warned against masks, and that the WHO changed its recommendation after a June meta-analysis of data on earlier SARS and MERS outbreaks. It then points to evidence about SARS-CoV-2, including two Missouri hairdressers who tested positive: the review reports infections in their unmasked households but none among customers at their salons, where they wore masks. It also cites Jena’s introduction of a mask requirement in April 2020 and research comparing infection trends in US states with and without such requirements. The article’s account is not that masks alone prevent spread. It says masks are particularly useful where distancing is difficult, describes evidence for reduced transmission, and presents protection for the wearer and against severe illness as probable rather than certain. On disinfection, it reports a household study finding that daily disinfection of frequently used surfaces was associated with a 77 percent reduction in infection risk. The review concludes that masks work alongside distancing and hygiene measures, including hand cleaning and disinfection.

Vera FilesHealth & medicine

Hypnic jerks, or the sensation of falling while sleeping, is a sign of a close encounter with death. The "shock" happened because of a signal sent by the brain that your blood circulation and breathing stopped during sleep.

Publisher’s rating: False

Research from related reporting describes hypnic jerks as brief, involuntary movements that occur as a person falls asleep, sometimes with a sensation of falling. It does not support the claim that they signal a close encounter with death or that the brain is reacting to stopped circulation or breathing. Instead, the reporting presents them as a usually harmless feature of the transition into sleep. The proposed explanation is that the brain misreads muscle relaxation as falling and sends a signal to the muscles. One report attributes that explanation to the NHS; another describes the movement as occurring during the shift from wakefulness to sleep. Neither excerpt says that the signal is a response to breathing or circulation stopping. The excerpts therefore offer a different explanation, but do not document a specific investigation of the death-encounter story.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturHealth & medicine

Eine Corona-Studie der US-Gesundheitsbehörde CDC über Covid-19-Erkrankte wird seit Wochen falsch interpretiert - zuletzt sogar von US-Präsident Donald Trump. Im deutschsprachigen Raum versucht das Portal «journalistenwatch.com» anhand der Analyse eine angebliche Wirkungslosigkeit von Masken zu erklären. Demnach könne ein Mund-Nasen-Schutz sogar «für den Träger nicht nur atemberaubend im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes sein, sondern offenbar sogar [die] Wahrscheinlichkeit erhöhen, Corona-Symptome zu entwickeln», heißt es in einem Artikel vom 14. Oktober 2020 (hier archiviert).

Publisher’s rating: Die CDC-Studie wird völlig falsch interpretiert. Beim Maskentragen geht es um den Schutz anderer Menschen, nicht um den eigenen. Die US-Gesundheitsbehörde kommt in dem Papier zu dem Schluss, dass Masken die Ausbreitung des Coronavirus verlangsamen.

The claim rests on a misreading of a CDC investigation of COVID-19 cases among adults. The review says researchers surveyed more than 300 people between 1 and 29 July 2020, and published results on 11 September. The study compared people who tested positive (“case-patients”) with people who tested negative (“control participants”); its table reported characteristics and activities in the 14 days before symptoms, including respondents’ reported mask use. It was not a test of whether masks cause symptoms or protect the wearer from infection. The reported mask-use figures do not show that masks increase the chance of becoming ill. Among positive-test participants, 70.6% said they always wore a mask and 14.4% often did; among negative-test participants, the corresponding figures were 74.2% and 14.5%. The review notes that the combined “always” or “often” proportions were therefore 85% for the positive group and 88.7% for the negative group. These are self-reported proportions in two study groups, not evidence that mask use caused infection or symptoms. The review points to other differences and limits that matter to interpreting the comparison. Close contact with a person with COVID-19 was reported by 42.2% of positive-test participants, compared with 14.5% of controls. The study did not record whether those contacts wore masks. The review also says positive-test participants were more likely to have recently visited a restaurant or bar, where masks could not be worn effectively while eating or drinking. It reports that the study authors recommended masks in public and near people outside one’s household; the table does not support the article’s claim that masks raise the likelihood of developing COVID-19 symptoms.

BBC Reality CheckHealth & medicine

In the "2017-18 flu epidemic, there were 50,000 excess deaths... you've had the same number of excess deaths during this pandemic".

Publisher’s rating: This confuses excess deaths with winter excess deaths. Over the winter of 2017-18 there were about 50,000 winter excess deaths in England and Wales, but only about half that number of excess deaths - that's because you expect more people to die in the winter than the summer for various reasons, one of which is flu.

APA - Austria Presse AgenturHealth & medicine

Die Sterblichkeit von Covid-19 ist nicht höher als die Sterblichkeit bei einer gewöhnlichen Grippe. Die WHO hat dies eingestanden, obwohl Anfang des Jahres höhere Werte kommuniziert wurden.

Publisher’s rating: Die WHO hat in der Sitzung keinen Vergleich zur Grippe gezogen und nicht behauptet, dass Covid-19 weniger gefährlich sei. Anhand von geschätzten Zahlen der WHO werden Berechnungen angestellt, die nicht zulässig sind. Auch die Werte von Anfang des Jahres sind nicht vergleichbar, weil sie eine andere Kennzahl betreffen. Zahlreiche Studien weisen auf eine deutlich höhere Sterblichkeit hin als bei der Grippe