RFK Jr.’s MAHA Report May Rely on Studies That Don’t Even Exist

When the health and human services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., released his commission’s much-anticipated Make America Healthy Again report a week ago, it cited hundreds of studies and other sources used to reach its conclusions. The validity of some of those sources is now being questioned, though, with reports suggesting that some of the studies might not even exist.The 68-page report blames a host of issues, from environmental toxins to pharmaceuticals, for a rise in chronic illnesses among children, and suggests a number of research initiatives, many of which conform to the unorthodox views of Mr. Kennedy. Among them are reassessing childhood vaccine schedules, putting in new systems for monitoring pediatric drugs, and studying possible environmental causes of childhood chronic diseases.But an investigation by a nonprofit news outlet, NOTUS, found errors with the sources cited in the MAHA report, at least seven of which don’t appear to exist at all. Among them is a study on anxiety in adolescents.Epidemiologist Katherine Keys is listed as an author of the study but she tells NOTUS that she produced no such report. “The paper cited is not a real paper that I or my colleagues were involved with,” Ms. Keyes says. “We’ve certainly done research on this topic, but did not publish a paper in JAMA Pediatrics on this topic with that co-author group, or with that title.”Two other studies that purportedly show that a rise in drug advertisements has led to more prescriptions being written for ADHD medications and antidepressants for children don’t appear to be valid either.The MAHA report claims depression rates in teenagers nearly doubled between 2009 and 2019, and that there was a 1,400 percent increase in children’s prescriptions for antidepressants between 1987 and 2014. The MAHA report claims the drugs did not “improve outcomes long-term,” but the studies can’t be found in the medical journals that are linked to as sources.NOTUS says it also found problems with how some studies cited in the MAHA report were interpreted. In one instance, a section on mental health cites a review paper claiming to show that therapy is as effective or more effective than medicine. One of the paper’s statisticians says the conclusion isn’t logical, noting that the study didn’t even measure therapy’s effectiveness.Mr. Kennedy called the report “a call to action for common sense,” but the questionable citations may indicate that it was built to bolster some of Mr. Kennedy’s views.When asked about the claims at a White House briefing on Thursday, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated the president has complete confidence in Mr. Kennedy and referred to “formatting issues” with the report that are being addressed.“It does not negate the substance of the report,” Ms. Leavitt said before adding that the MAHA report was based on “good science.”In a statement to the Sun, the Department of Health and Human Services said the report’s “minor citation and formatting errors have been corrected,” adding that the substance of the MAHA report remains the same. “It’s time for the media to also focus on what matters,” the department said..

RFK Jr.’s MAHA Report May Rely on Studies That Don’t Even Exist

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