In the 20 years since the initial description of the number needed to treat, 1 this method of
expressing the efficacy of an intervention has become widely used. Indeed, the …

Background: The interpretation of the results of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) has
traditionally emphasized statistical significance rather than clinical importance. Our aim was …

Numbers needed to treat (NNTs) may be used to present the effects of treatment and are the
reciprocal of the absolute difference between treatment and control groups in a randomized …

Background Well designed randomized controlled trials provide reliable evidence of
treatment effects, but there is no consensus on how best to apply these results to clinical …

To the Editor: Dr Tricoci and colleagues1 published an analysis indicating that American
College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) guidelines are largely …

In the fields of evidence-based practice, comparative effectiveness, quality of care, practice
guidelines, and related areas, systematic reviews are a crucial tool for assembling and …

Background The number needed to treat (NNT) is an absolute effect measure that has been
used to assess beneficial and harmful effects of medical interventions. Several methods can …

The role of observational studies in the evaluation of treatments is a long-standing and
contentious topic. 1 In this issue of the Journal, Concato et al. 2 and Benson and Hartz3 …

In following the practice of evidence-based medicine, when faced with a question about
prevention or treatment the clinician should seek out the best evidence that addresses the …

Although great effort is made in clinical trials to demonstrate statistical superiority of one
intervention vs. another, insufficient attention is paid regarding the clinical relevance or …