Making sense of health statisticsComments on: --

By: Health Reform by Consumer Education - American Community Health

Health Reform by Consumer Education - American Community Health — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:12:52 +0000

[...] what they mean. That would explain why Gigerenzer et al found that most doctors got it wrong (we reported on their great 2008 paper). Turns out the same is often true for journal editors and peer [...]

By: Tips for understanding studies (Health News Review) | e-Patients.net

Tips for understanding studies (Health News Review) | e-Patients.net — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 22:00:10 +0000

By: Salzburg Global Seminar, December 2010: Informing and Involving Patients in Medical Decision Making | e-Patients.net

Sun, 12 Dec 2010 14:26:39 +0000

[...] lead author of a terrific e-patient training article on making sense of health statistics. Here’s our post about it from two years [...]

By: Dave deBronkart

Dave deBronkart — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:54:35 +0000

@MatthewBrowning @nickdawson Yes; in ICSI keynote I emphasized Nov08 "Making Sense of Stats" post http://bit.ly/bojSfH

By: ehealthgr

ehealthgr — Wed, 05 May 2010 23:54:55 +0000

RT @garyschwitzer: RT @ePatientDave: "Making sense of statistics" post & article http://is.gd/bVDx2 #ICSIMN10 – Gerd Gigerenzer (mentioned in my talk) wrote it

By: Gary Schwitzer

Gary Schwitzer — Wed, 05 May 2010 23:51:26 +0000

RT @ePatientDave: "Making sense of statistics" post & article http://is.gd/bVDx2 #ICSIMN10 – Gerd Gigerenzer (mentioned in my talk) wrote it

By: Dave deBronkart

Dave deBronkart — Wed, 05 May 2010 23:03:46 +0000

@shellsuga @jensmccabe "Making sense of statistics" post & article http://is.gd/bVDx2 #ICSIMN10

By: Terrorized By The ‘War On Cancer’ | e-Patients.net

Terrorized By The ‘War On Cancer’ | e-Patients.net — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:16:49 +0000

[...] of course the general lack of statistical literacy, as we wrote in the e-patients blog here and there. As a report said “Statistical literacy is a necessary precondition for an educated [...]

By: ePatientDave

ePatientDave — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:01:35 +0000

Classic e-patients.net post on understanding stats, incl relative risk: http://is.gd/4Eo33 #epatcon.

By: e-Patient training topic: a national article reports relative risk, not raw data. | e-Patients.net

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 13:30:27 +0000

[...] problem is relative risk reduction. As we discussed last November in Making sense of health statistics, relative risk is an unsound basis for policy decisions, because you can’t tell the actual size [...]

By: I’m sick of hearing Washington talk about savings “over ten years” | e-Patients.net

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:57:30 +0000

[...] great training on that, with examples, is presented in the informative article discussed in our Making Sense of Health Statistics. It has great anecdotes about how policy people, journalists and even doctors very often [...]

By: Andrew Holtz

Andrew Holtz — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:50:16 +0000

@ePatientDave Thanks for the reference. Always good to see commonplace misunderstandings examined. http://is.gd/1sODT

By: ePatientDave

ePatientDave — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:45:54 +0000

@HoltzReport Yeah, unneeded treatment is one risk discussed in great stats paper ep.net mulled last Nov http://is.gd/1sODT

By: ePatientDave

ePatientDave — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 22:37:12 +0000

@amcunningham Re prostate screening: that’s a specimen in superb paper on statistical illiteracy (Nov08) http://ow.ly/1680

By: ePatientDave

ePatientDave — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 03:37:38 +0000

@staticnrg Also related to “collective statistical illiteracy” that affects medical policies & reporting http://ow.ly/FMg

By: ePatientDave

ePatientDave — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 12:48:14 +0000

@TrishaTorrey Re informed consent: vitally important paper Making Sense of HC Statistics http://is.gd/hafw

By: Lies, Damn Lies And Statistics: Collective Statistical Illiteracy | e-Patients.net

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 13:13:45 +0000

[...] e-Patient Dave wrote yesterday the report is directly relevant to e-patients and shows how statistical illiteracy of the public [...]

By: e-Patient Dave

e-Patient Dave — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 05:50:14 +0000

Ted, I’m delinquent in responding, but WOW, HealthNewsReview is a great resource! Thanks!

By: Ted Eytan

Ted Eytan — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:24:02 +0000

John/Dave, your comments reminded me of this site, which reviews the quality of reports on studies:

http://www.healthnewsreview.org/review/review.php?rid=1631

Best,

Ted

By: John Grohol

John Grohol — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:19:31 +0000

Dave hit the nail on the head at the end there — the mainstream media isn’t reporting the real data — the raw numbers. Instead, they report what the press release reports, or what the study’s authors report in summary.

I can’t emphasize enough how many decisions are made upon incomplete and inaccurate statistical information. Most docs would say, “Well, this medication will reduce your risk by 50%.” But the truth is far less compelling. It reduces a population’s overall risk by that number, but your own personal risk is likely changed in only a minuscule manner.

Until more physicians, policy makers, and reporters really start to understand the power (and misuse) of statistics, they will continue to make poor decisions, report on the “non findings” of much research, and make bad policy guidelines based upon faulty information.