
Relative Risk Reduction: A Guide to What It Really Means
A patient once told me, “My doctor said this pill cuts my risk in half, so I assumed I’d be foolish not to take it.”

A patient once told me, “My doctor said this pill cuts my risk in half, so I assumed I’d be foolish not to take it.”

You are probably reading a paper, a drug summary, or a hospital formulary note that says a treatment “reduced risk by” some impressive relative amount.

Most hospital leaders have seen the same slide deck problem. One intervention is presented with a dramatic percentage. Another is described with a smaller number

A hospital leader sits in a budget meeting with two proposals on the table. One vendor says its program cuts adverse events significantly. Another says

A patient reads a headline over breakfast: a new treatment “cuts risk by 50%.” That sounds huge. It sounds like an easy yes. Then the