As citizens, patients, scientists, health care providers, or advocates we are often confronted with scientific reports that we must interpret and from which we draw conclusions. Authors of those reports have usually drawn conclusions that they include in their discussion of the data. Once data are released to the general public, regulatory agencies, or others, however, individuals often re-interpret the data and draw their own conclusions. The language that they use may "spin" the conclusions in order to promote a particular policy outcome that may be influenced by the data. The language used to describe the findings often has an important influence on the inferences that can be drawn and the uses to which the data are put.
In an attempt to address this important issue staff of the California Department of Health Services, informed by a public comment period, developed recommended policy-neutral language that was approved by a special Scientific Advisory Board. We believe that language is extremely important in describing patterns of evidence and for expressing what degree of certainty of causality is warranted by that pattern and we post the California language here.