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User:Psarka/PR2 computed example

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This is a proposal to replace the ARR RRR template by two separate templates, one for risk reduction, and one for risk increase.

Motivation

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The current ARR RRR template is as follows:

  Example 1: risk reduction Example 2: risk increase
Experimental group (E) Control group (C) Total (E) (C) Total
Events (E) EE = 15 CE = 100 115 EE = 75 CE = 100 175
Non-events (N) EN = 135 CN = 150 285 EN = 75 CN = 150 225
Total subjects (S) ES = EE + EN = 150 CS = CE + CN = 250 400 ES = 150 CS = 250 400
Event rate (ER) EER = EE / ES = 0.1, or 10% CER = CE / CS = 0.4, or 40% EER = 0.5 (50%) CER = 0.4 (40%)
Equation Variable Abbr. Example 1 Example 2
EER − CER < 0: absolute risk reduction ARR (−)0.3, or (−)30% N/A
> 0: absolute risk increase ARI N/A 0.1, or 10%
(EER − CER) / CER < 0: relative risk reduction RRR (−)0.75, or (−)75% N/A
> 0: relative risk increase RRI N/A 0.25, or 25%
1 / (EER − CER) < 0: number needed to treat NNT (−)3.33 N/A
> 0: number needed to harm NNH N/A 10
EER / CER relative risk RR 0.25 1.25
(EE / EN) / (CE / CN) odds ratio OR 0.167 1.5
EER − CER attributable risk AR (−)0.30, or (−)30% 0.1, or 10%
(RR − 1) / RR attributable risk percent ARP N/A 20%
1 − RR (or 1 − OR) preventive fraction PF 0.75, or 75% N/A

In my opinion it is cognitively overloaded, as the differences between risk reduction and risk increase are quite significant, so it is cumbersome to merge them to one. In particular:

  • many fields contain missing values, indicating the difference
  • if/else logic (expressed as <0 or >0) is necessary to separate the terms
  • shared formulas for ARR & ARI, RRR & RRI, NNT & NNH are actually not shared in the main literature, so the actual separation is even larger.

Changes

[edit]

This is a proposed example for the risk reduction:

  Example 1: risk reduction
Experimental group (E) Control group (C) Total
Events (E) EE = 15 CE = 100 115
Non-events (N) EN = 135 CN = 150 285
Total subjects (S) ES = EE + EN = 150 CS = CE + CN = 250 400
Event rate (ER) EER = EE / ES = 0.1, or 10% CER = CE / CS = 0.4, or 40%
Equation Variable Abbr. Value
CER - EER absolute risk reduction ARR 0.3, or 30%
(CER - EER) / CER relative risk reduction RRR 0.75, or 75%
1 / (CER − EER) number needed to treat NNT 3.33
EER / CER relative risk RR 0.25
(EE / EN) / (CE / CN) odds ratio OR 0.167
1 − RR preventive fraction PF 0.75

This is a proposed example for the risk increase:

  Example 2: risk increase
Experimental group (E) Control group (C) Total
Events (E) EE = 75 CE = 100 115
Non-events (N) EN = 75 CN = 150 285
Total subjects (S) ES = EE + EN = 150 CS = CE + CN = 250 400
Event rate (ER) EER = EE / ES = 0.5, or 50% CER = CE / CS = 0.4, or 40%
Equation Variable Abbr. Value
EER − CER absolute risk increase ARI 0.1, or 10%
(EER − CER) / CER relative risk increase RRI 0.25, or 25%
1 / (EER − CER) number needed to harm NNH 10
EER / CER relative risk RR 1.25
(EE / EN) / (CE / CN) odds ratio OR 1.5
(RR − 1) / RR attributable risk percent ARP 20%

While they duplicate some of the content, separate examples are, in my opinion, easier to comprehend at a glance.