We also found no indication that caveats in press releases reduce uptake, although presumably the fear that they do is the reason caveats are so rare.
Five physiological tests measure physical function defined as: estimated maximum muscle strength (knee extension, knee flexion, arm flexion, arm extension and leg press), maximal oxygen uptake (VO2peak), balance, gait velocity and steps frequency and activity levels (see table 1).
At the same time, there was little evidence that exaggeration in press releases increased the uptake of news.
Between universities there was also no evidence that higher rates of inflated claims in press releases attracted more news uptake.
While there was a small numerical increase in news uptake with exaggerated press releases, any real effect is unlikely to be greater than the upper confidence intervals.
For causal claims from correlation, 61/122 (50%) press releases without exaggeration had news uptake compared with 34/60 (57%) press releases with exaggerated claims (95% confidence intervals of the difference −9% to 22%; see supplementary SI5 for secondary statements).
For inference to humans, 29/67 (43%) press releases without exaggeration had news uptake compared with 19/38 (50%) press releases with exaggerated advice (95% confidence intervals of the difference −13% to 27%).
For advice, 66/128 (52%) press releases without exaggeration had news uptake compared with 50/85 (59%) press releases with exaggerated advice (bootstrapped 95% confidence intervals of the difference −6.4% to 21%).
No, the other one, he was told, prompting the following, genuinely bemused, reply: "What's so funny about Wayne Kerr?" The Australian press was a bit quicker on the uptake and, in the first few days following Ireland's arrival in Sydney, journalists were, er, falling over themselves to speak to the 24-year-old prop.
We also tested whether explicit caveats mentioned about advice, causal statements, or inference to humans from animal research in press releases were associated with reduced news uptake, as many scientists and press officers might fear.
