Davies H T
Department of Management, University of St Andrews, Fife.
Hosp Med. 1998 Jun;59(6):499-501.
A confusing number of measures are used to describe the effect sizes from clinical trials or systematic reviews. Absolute measures (absolute risk reduction, number needed to treat) and relative measures (relative risk reduction, relative risk or odds ratio) may give not just different numerical answers but convey different messages. This paper describes the role and meaning of the different measures, advises on their interpretation, and highlights the importance of taking into account the initial risk when assessing effect sizes from published studies.
有大量令人困惑的指标被用于描述临床试验或系统评价中的效应大小。绝对指标（绝对风险降低率、需治疗人数）和相对指标（相对风险降低率、相对风险或比值比）不仅可能给出不同的数值答案，还传达不同的信息。本文描述了不同指标的作用和意义，就其解读提供建议，并强调在评估已发表研究的效应大小时考虑初始风险的重要性。
