Abstract
The evidence supporting many beliefs in medicine is based upon opinion, personal experience,
hearsay, or "common knowledge." When one searches for the data supporting oft-quoted
facts in medicine, they are sometimes found to be old, incorrect, or nonexistent.
Such unsupported facts or beliefs can be termed myths. This minireview will summarize 4 examples of "myth busting" by the author when he
has discovered widely held beliefs regarding carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning to be
untrue during a 25-year career of research in the field. These include the mistaken
beliefs that (1) symptoms correlate with presenting blood carboxyhemoglobin levels,
(2) residents are safe from CO poisoning if their home does not contain fuel-burning
appliances, (3) carboxyhemoglobin levels must be measured rapidly and on arterial
blood, and (4) CO poisoning predisposes to premature long-term death from cardiac
disease. In addition to providing the evidence disproving these myths, the importance
of going back to the original reference when citing prior work is emphasized.
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: November 03, 2015
Accepted:
October 30,
2015
Received in revised form:
October 26,
2015
Received:
September 19,
2015
Identification
Copyright
© 2015 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
