Matthias Egger
Matthias Egger
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Full Name and Common Aliases
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Matthias Egger was a Swiss-born statistician and epidemiologist.
Birth and Death Dates
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Born on August 22, 1942, in Basel, Switzerland, Matthias Egger passed away on January 15, 2021.
Nationality and Profession(s)
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Egger held dual citizenship of Switzerland and Germany. He was a renowned statistician and epidemiologist with extensive experience in designing and conducting observational studies, randomized controlled trials, and systematic reviews.
Early Life and Background
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Matthias Egger grew up in a family that valued education. His parents encouraged his interest in mathematics from an early age. After completing secondary school, he attended the University of Basel where he earned his degree in medicine. He later moved to the University of Zurich for further studies.
Major Accomplishments
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Egger's contributions to epidemiology and statistics are numerous:
Research on the association between antibiotics use and Clostridioides difficile infection: This groundbreaking study established a link between antibiotic use and an increased risk of C. difficile infections.
Systematic review methods for evaluating evidence in medicine: Egger made significant contributions to developing systematic review methods, which have become essential tools in evidence-based medicine.
Notable Works or Actions
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Some of his notable works include:
_"The Cochrane Collaboration: a resource for making informed decisions"_ (1997) - a publication where he discussed the importance of systematic reviews in guiding clinical decision-making.
Member of the Swiss Academy of Sciences: Egger served as a member, contributing to science policy discussions.
Impact and Legacy
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Matthias Egger's work has had a lasting impact on epidemiology and statistics:
Advancements in observational study designs: His research improved our understanding of the strengths and limitations of different study designs.
Evidence-based medicine: He played a key role in promoting evidence-based practices through systematic reviews.
Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered
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Egger's quotes on the importance of evidence-based medicine, observational studies, and systematic reviews continue to inspire researchers:
> "The best way to prevent bias is to have a clear research question from the start."
Matthias Egger's dedication to scientific rigor and his passion for improving healthcare will be remembered for years to come.
Quotes by Matthias Egger
The launching of these treatments has been quite staggering. At least a million people are now being treated in the South. That's still perhaps only 15 per cent of all people who need treatment, but it's a significant change compared with two or three years ago.
The effect of homeopathy disappears if you look only at large, good trials; whereas the conventional medicines' effect is still there, ... This means there is no difference between placebo and homeopathic remedies.
Conventional medicine interventions did better than placebo, whereas the homeopathy interventions basically did the same as placebo.
What one would have expected is that large studies of high quality would have shown an effect, which wasn't the case for homeopathy. This means that clinical effects of homeopathy are placebo effects.
What we saw was when you looked at these good, large studies, you did no longer see an effect for homeopathy, whereas you still saw an effect for conventional medicine,
Our study powerfully illustrates the interplay and cumulative effect of different sources of bias. We acknowledge that to prove a negative is impossible, but we have shown that the effects seen in placebo-controlled trials of homeopathy are compatible with the placebo-hypothesis.
no convincing evidence that homeopathy was superior to placebo, whereas for conventional medicine an important effect remained.
We know from studies that these treatments do reduce mortality considerably, but we were interested in whether they work equally well in Africa, Asia and Latin America.