number needed to treat (NNT)
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Introduction
For example, if mortality with treatment is 75% vs 90% for placebo, the absolute risk reduction is 0.90-0.75 = 0.15.
Thus, the number need to treat is 1/0.15 = 6.667 ~ 7
The number of patients needed to treat for a single patient to benefit.
If the prevalence in the population is low, the number needed to treat will be high.
More general terms
Additional terms
References
- ↑ Medical Knowledge Self Assessment Program (MKSAP) 11, 14, 16, 17. American College of Physicians, Philadelphia 1998, 2006, 2012, 2015
- ↑ Cook RJ, Sackett DL. The number needed to treat: a clinically useful measure of treatment effect. BMJ. 1995 Feb 18;310(6977):452-4. PMID: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7873954 Free PMC Article
- ↑ Barratt A, Wyer PC, Hatala R et al Tips for learners of evidence-based medicine: 1. Relative risk reduction, absolute risk reduction and number needed to treat. CMAJ. 2004 Aug 17;171(4):353-8. Review. PMID: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15313996 Free PMC Article
- ↑ Saver JL, Lewis RJ. Number Needed to Treat. Conveying the Likelihood of a Therapeutic Effect, JAMA. Published online February 7, 2019 PMID: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30730545 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2724456
- ↑ Ranganathan P, Pramesh CS, Aggarwal R. Common pitfalls in statistical analysis: absolute risk reduction, relative risk reduction, and number needed to treat. Perspect Clin Res. 2016;7:51-3. PMID: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26952180
- ↑ The NNT: Quick summaries of evidence-based medicine. http://www.thennt.com/