Decoding the Statistics in Reports of Scientific Results: Must it be so Hard?
Overview
Clinicians’ processing of new information about treatment efficacy
Outline
Expressions of Treatment Effects: Assumptions
Example. Front page news story, Daily Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Feb 4, 2000
Interpretation of alternative expressions of the effect of treatment or exposure.
Odds Ratio
Other expressions of the same effect.
Other ways of looking at the Oklahoma State of the State’s Health statistic.
How well do physicians understand the expressions of effect?
Physician interpretation of statistics in medical journals
Abstracts
Example Abstract
Questions asked about Abstract 1:
Results.
PPT Slide
Results and conclusions.
The impact of alternative expressions of treatment effect.
External validity problems of earlier studies.
We studied physicians’ intended practices after reading accurate abstract of real study.
Expression of effect was varied between subjects
Difference in % of All Patients Doctor would Recommend Avoid the Hazard, Treatment Effect Expression Versus Raw Data
Results: RR and ARD
Results: NNP
How should scientific reports express the effects of treatments?
Example of clear verbal and numerical expression of effect of treatment.
Graphic approaches
Display used in Patient Decision Support Materials
Graphic display of effect of treatment
Computer Calculators with Graphic Displays
Conclusion
Email: robert-hamm@ouhsc.edu
Home Page: http://www.fammed.ouhsc.edu/robhamm/index.htm