How We Research
Every page on this site is built from primary documents: the CDC data table, the NIH study, the ACOG practice bulletin, the USPSTF recommendation statement. Each figure is recorded with the year the data refers to, checked against the source a second time before publication, and cut if it cannot be traced. Priority pages are re-checked roughly every thirty days and after any guideline change.
What counts as a source here?
Sources are ranked, and the ranking is not a formality. A claim is only as good as the document behind it, and health writing fails most often by citing a summary of a summary until the original number is unrecognisable.
| Tier | Source | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | US federal agencies and their data systems: CDC, NCHS, NIH institutes, FDA, HHS Office of Minority Health | Prevalence, mortality, screening policy, drug and device status |
| 2 | Specialty societies: ACOG, AHA and ACC, the American Diabetes Association, the American Academy of Dermatology, the USPSTF | Diagnostic thresholds, clinical guidelines, screening ages |
| 3 | Peer-reviewed journals, preferring systematic reviews and large cohort studies | Mechanism, effect sizes, anything the guidelines have not settled |
| 4 | Named academic medical centres, used only to explain a concept | Explanatory framing, never as the source of a number |
Other health blogs, content mills, supplement retailers and press releases are not sources. Neither is a hospital marketing page. If a figure appears on this site, the document it came from is linked in the sources block at the bottom of that page.
How is a number verified?
Three passes. First, the figure is located in the primary document rather than in an article about the document. Second, the year the data refers to is recorded separately from the year the source was published, because a 2026 publication routinely reports 2022 data. Third, the figure is read back against the source before the page is published, which is where most errors are caught.
Rounding is avoided. A rate of 3.2 times is written as 3.2 times, not “three times higher”, because the compressed version is what gets quoted onward and it drifts further with every retelling.
What happens when the evidence disagrees?
The page says so. This niche is full of claims that are repeated everywhere and supported nowhere, and quietly picking the tidier version is how they spread. Where a widely repeated belief is not well supported by the research, the guide states the belief, states what the evidence actually shows, and links the source that settles it.
This is a judgement call and worth being direct about: a page that says “the evidence here is mixed and here is why” is more useful than a page that sounds certain. Certainty is easy to write and it is the main reason health content ages badly.
What will you never find on this site?
- Dosing advice. No page tells you how much of anything to take. That depends on your weight, your kidneys, your other medications and your labs.
- Diagnosis. No page tells you what you have. Pages explain what a symptom pattern can mean and what a test measures.
- Advice to stop or change a prescription. Ever, under any framing.
- Invented statistics. If a number cannot be traced, the sentence is deleted rather than estimated.
- Product recommendations. No supplement, device or brand is recommended for purchase, and no affiliate commission is taken.
- Fabricated first-hand experience. When a page describes a form or a portal, it is describing a document actually read, and the document is linked.
How often is content updated?
Priority guides are re-checked on roughly a thirty-day cycle, and immediately when a guideline changes, an agency publishes a new data year, or a reader reports an error. The “last reviewed” date near the byline is the date the page was genuinely checked against its sources. It is not the publication date and it is not incremented to look fresh.
When a re-check changes a fact, the fact is changed on the page. When it changes a conclusion, the change is described in the page rather than quietly swapped, because a reader who acted on the earlier version deserves to know it moved.
How do corrections work?
Send the page URL and the contradicting source to [email protected]. Factual corrections are made on the page and noted there. Requests to remove accurate, sourced information are declined. Requests from companies to alter coverage of their products are declined and are not negotiated privately.
Questions about the method
Is the content written or checked by a doctor?
No. It is written by a health writer working from clinical guidelines and primary data, and the site says so rather than implying medical review it does not have. Where a question needs a clinician, the page says that too.
Why do you cite the year the data refers to?
Because health statistics move and publication dates hide that. A maternal mortality figure published in 2026 may describe 2022. Reporting only the publication year makes old data look current.
Do you use AI to write articles?
Drafting tools are used the way a spellchecker is used. Every fact, figure and citation is verified by a person against the primary document, and no claim is published on the strength of a model having asserted it.
What if a source disappears?
Agency pages move. When a linked source stops resolving, it is replaced with the current location of the same document or with the archived version, and if neither exists the claim is removed rather than left unsupported.
Medical disclaimer. This article is health information, not medical advice. It cannot account for your history, your medications or your test results. Talk to a licensed clinician before you change anything about your treatment. Read the full disclaimer.