Many doctors are jumping the gun when it comes to clinical studies:

“Our message is for the physicians in the community to be aware of the potential risks of adopting therapies too early, and also for physicians presenting early results at meetings to be aware of how dramatically practice can change, based on their presentations,” said study author Dr. Sharon Giordano, an assistant professor of medicine in the department of breast medical oncology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston.

The danger of this type of early hyping is very real: A Canadian study, published in the March 15 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that 41 percent of preliminary trial results presented as “highlights” at medical meetings ended up having more disappointing conclusions when final findings were published in medical journals later.

I blame major media for hyping up preliminary data that really shouldn’t change any practice habits.