In a world with so much information at our fingertips, we find ourselves actually more confused, not less. There’s always a new study telling us about the latest findings on what foods we should eat or not eat, the best supplements to take, or the best form of exercise, the medications we should take to avoid a multitude of symptoms and even death. All these things affect your quality of life and longevity.
Neither the regular person or even most doctors really dig into the research and for good reason. It’s very confusing and is time consuming!
Understanding the difference between Relative Risk VS Absolute Risk, is essential when interpreting the results of any study and in deciding the risks vs benefits of any treatment or procedure. You have to have the facts, the numbers, and know the baseline, before heads or tails can be made of any of it.
So what is the difference between Relative Risk VS Absolute Risk?
The Relative Risk is usually a much larger number than the Absolute Risk. It’s what’s used by the media, pharmaceutical companies and others as well.
The Relative Risk, which is always reported as a percentage, does not give us an actual number. It’s the Absolute Risk, aka the increased number of events in the control group over the placebo group that matters.
There have been many times when the reporting of a Relative Risk has been detrimental to large groups of people. One of the biggest examples of this and one that has affected women for over 22 years and continues to affect the wellbeing and even longevity of millions of postmenopausal women was with the WHI study.
Over 22 years ago it was leaked to the press that one arm of the study (the estrogen and progestin arm) caused an increase of breast cancer by 24%. That sounds significant but when broken down, that turned out to be less than 1 case per 1,000 women which is not statistically significant. The 24% was the Relative Risk and the 1 was the Absolute Risk. A big difference, yes?
So either your eyes are totally glazed over by now or perhaps I’ve got your attention. I’m hoping it’s the latter, which in the end will make you much better equipped to have conversations with your doctors when it comes to deciding any medical procedure or medication.
Your health can and should be a shared decision between you and your healthcare provider.