The Phrase “Plays a Role” Should Not Appear in the Medical Literature

Dear Editor,

Medical articles generally provide 2 types of information. The first is numerical information based on a clinical study. The second is analytical information based on review of the literature. Medical writers must make numerous word choices to convey this information in a succinct but exact way. However, some writers make word choices that seem too casual for medical writing. For example, the phrase plays a role occurs frequently. The sentence “leukocytes play a role in inflammation” provides little information about either leukocytes or inflammation. It would be better if the author explained the exact function of the leukocyte and the exact component of inflammation being discussed in the sentence. An article in The Lancet on the global burden of a bacterial antimicrobial resistance in 2019 provides an example, “First, to define the number of deaths where infection plays a role, we used GBD 2019 cause of death estimates. . . .” ¹ The reader might wonder what type of infection and what type of association (eg, directly contributes to hospital-based deaths).

The word “play” can function as a noun or a verb. It can function as either an intransitive verb that has no object (I play outside) or a transitive verb that has an object (I play golf). In most sentences in medical writing, “play” functions as a transitive verb. However, none of the common use applications listed in the Merriam Webster dictionary have an application that might be expected in medical writing. Typically, the term plays a role implies a physiologic or pathologic function that has a clinical outcome. This represents a convenience for the writer that does not adequately describe or explain the information in the sentence. Authors should try to avoid the verb “play” and other casual, convenient terms and construct sentences that have specific verbs and specific outcomes. Editors, copy editors, and readers should expect sentences that provide clear information about clinical relationships even if they are longer and include more detail. As pundits caution, in medical writing, “Avoid clichés like the plague.”