Toby, I agree with you on the subject of the context - there is no such
thing as a 'good NNT' in the abstract.
However, just in case people got the wrong impression about the TRISTAN
study I should correct one point. This was not about asthma but about
moderate to severe COPD. Exacerbations of COPD can cause further lung damage
in this progressive disease. So slowing down progression is an aim which I
think is different to the prevention of asthma attacks.
Kev Hopayian
on 26/2/03 1:36 pm, Toby Lipman at [log in to unmask] wrote:
> Kev is correct to say they are not bad ARRs. He is also correct to
> complain about the habit of reporting RRRs as this can mislead anyone
> trying to interpret the findings. However you have to take into account
> what the event being prevented is. Treating 13 or 25 patients to prevent
> one death a year would be pretty good. Treating the same number to
> prevent one exacerbation of asthma - well you start to ask whether it is
> worth the cost.
|