SerialStateLineXer t1_j54ifch wrote
Reply to comment by ElectionOver4Hours in Study suggests that consuming at least one regular cola per day may be associated with higher odds of Pancreatic Cancer and a higher hazard of mortality after Pancreatic Cancer diagnosis by mightx
>it's self-reported. How reliable is that? (Answer: literally not at all
Self-reporting tends to introduce noise into the data set. It's far more likely to mask a real effect than to result in spurious statistical significance.
The bigger issue is that they seem to have done a lot of comparisons with no correction for multiple comparisons. This greatly increases the likelihood of a spurious finding. Although they suggest phosphoric acid as a likely factor because of the lack of association between non-cola soda and pancreatic cancer, this may just be a post-hoc rationalization for a potentially spurious finding.
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