A proposed presentation (abstract) about polycythemia vera (PV) co-authored by staff from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) for presentation at the annual meeting of the American Hematology Society in December 2007 differed from information presented in a community meeting held in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, on October 24, 2007.
Some of the results included in the American Hematology Society abstract were based on an ATSDR analysis that was later determined to be inappropriate. As a result, they inferred prematurely that the risk of developing PV was dependent upon residential location. The inappropriate method inferred a level of risk in places where no illnesses occurred. In addition, the data could not be used to compare the occurrence of PV relative to background measures of occurrence.
Conference organizers typically ask for presentation proposals months before national meetings occur in order to have sufficient time to plan the program. At the time the presentation proposal was submitted, the authors used the preliminary analyses which were later judged inadequate. The conclusions described in the abstract differed from results provided to the public, which are the most current. The presentation made at the American Hematology Society meeting accurately reflected ATSDR’s current assessment of the data.
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