text_1: Study suggests a second LDL test
text_2: This brief newspaper report describes a test called the NMR LipoProfile, which is used to measure the number and size of LDL particles. The test maker says these particles provide a more accurate picture of cardiovascular disease risk than LDL numbers alone. As the rating for this news story suggests, it falls far short of most health journalism best practices. It fails to report on price, availability, medical need, alternative approaches, related research or potential harms. But the story’s most serious flaw is its failure to include independent sources’ assessment of the value of LDL particles in assessing heart disease risk–and of the LipoProfile test in particular. Depending solely on the views of the test maker’s former chief medical officer, who has collaborated in his research with a current company executive, was a bad journalistic decision.