Understanding and communicating epidemiological measures of risk and benefit

Practically, every intervention decision that is made in the primary health care setting requires the application of a health benefit versus risk assessment. While there are many expert guidelines available that can help health practitioners with the decision-making process of, for example, cardiovascular disease and diabetes management, it is important that the supporting data used to develop these guidelines is understood as well. The effectiveness and safety of an intervention, preferably evaluated in a randomized clinical trial, is generally expressed in relative terms, such as the epidemiological measure “relative risk.” Absolute measures of risk, which predict the intervention’s benefit for an individual patient, are not always assessed or included in guidelines and therefore not commonly used by health practitioners to develop appropriate health care plans.