Slicing and dicing the data to get the results you want

The Journal of the American Medical Association this week features an article that finds high level of positive religious coping heavily associated with the decision of whether or not to have mechanical ventilation or intensive life prolonging care during the last week of life. In fact adjusting for age and race and further adjusting for other coping styles, terminal illness acknowledgment, support of spiritual needs, preference for heroics, and advance care planning (do-not-resuscitate order, living will, and health care proxy/durable power of attorney), positive religious coping remained a significant predictor of receiving intensive life-prolonging care near death. In most cases the results were triple or quadruple the baseline percentage:

Level of Religious Coping High Low

Mechanical Ventilation 11.30% 3.60%

Intensive Life Prolonging Care 13.60% 4.20%

I would have expected those that have strong religious feelings to be among the strongest supporters of palliative care, hospice and the like. And maybe that is the problem with this study by "adjusting for other coping styles..." the researchers may have inadvertently skewered the data in such a fashion that the results are actually contrary to the truth. In this case you cannot "adjust for other coping styles" as you effectively render the results meaningless.