Faulty logic

“New is better!”

Just because an intervention is new, expensive, technologically impressive, or brand-named does not mean that it is better or safer than other interventions.

People often believe that treatments are better just because they are new, but in fact, newer interventions are not necessarily better than others. Moreover, the safety of new interventions is often uncertain. This is because both the positive effects and possible side effects, or harms, of some interventions take time to appear. It may not be possible to know if there are benefits or harms unless people getting the intervention have been followed-up over a long time.

BEWARE of claims that an intervention helps or is safe just because it is new.

REMEMBER: Think about whether the intervention has been tested in fair comparisons.