TY - JOUR
T1 - Estimating a treatment effect
T2 - Choosing between relative and absolute measures
AU - Sormani, Maria Pia
AU - Bruzzi, Paolo
PY - 2017/2/1
Y1 - 2017/2/1
N2 - The size of a treatment effect in clinical trials can be expressed in relative or absolute terms. Commonly used relative treatment effect measures are relative risks, odds ratios, and hazard ratios, while absolute estimate of treatment effect are absolute differences and numbers needed to treat. When making indirect comparisons of treatment effects, which is common in multiple sclerosis (MS), having now many drugs tested in independent trials, we can have different figures if we use relative or absolute measures, and a frequently asked question by clinicians is which approach should be used. In this report, we will try to define these measures, to give numerical examples of their calculation and specify their meaning and their context of use.
AB - The size of a treatment effect in clinical trials can be expressed in relative or absolute terms. Commonly used relative treatment effect measures are relative risks, odds ratios, and hazard ratios, while absolute estimate of treatment effect are absolute differences and numbers needed to treat. When making indirect comparisons of treatment effects, which is common in multiple sclerosis (MS), having now many drugs tested in independent trials, we can have different figures if we use relative or absolute measures, and a frequently asked question by clinicians is which approach should be used. In this report, we will try to define these measures, to give numerical examples of their calculation and specify their meaning and their context of use.
KW - absolute measures
KW - relative measures
KW - Treatment effect
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85011851575&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85011851575&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1352458516645671
DO - 10.1177/1352458516645671
M3 - Article
C2 - 27207463
AN - SCOPUS:85011851575
VL - 23
SP - 197
EP - 200
JO - Multiple Sclerosis
JF - Multiple Sclerosis
SN - 1352-4585
IS - 2
ER -