基本説明
By learning to understand the medical statistics and knowing what questions to ask, readers will be able to see through the hype and find out what - if any - credible information remains.
Full Description
Every day we are bombarded by television ads, public service announcements, and media reports warning of dire risks to our health and offering solutions to help us lower those risks. But many of these messages are incomplete, misleading, or exaggerated, leaving the average person misinformed and confused. "Know Your Chances" is a lively, accessible, and carefully researched book that can help consumers sort through this daily barrage by teaching them how to interpret the numbers behind the messages.In clear and simple steps, the authors - all of them staff physicians at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in White River Junction, Vermont - take the mystery out of medical statistics. By learning to understand the medical statistics and knowing what questions to ask, readers will be able to see through the hype and find out what - if any - credible information remains. The book's easy-to-understand charts will help ordinary people put their health concerns into perspective. This short, reader-friendly volume will foster communication between patients and doctors and provide the basic critical-thinking skills necessary for navigating today's confusing health landscape.
Contents
What This Book Is About PART ONE. WHAT IS MY RISK? 1. Understanding Risk 2. Putting Risk in Perspective 3. Risk Charts: A Way to Get Perspective PART TWO. CAN I REDUCE MY RISK? 4. Judging the Benefit of a Health Intervention 5. Not All Benefits Are Equal: Understand the Outcome PART THREE. DOES RISK REDUCTION HAVE DOWNSIDES? 6. Consider the Downsides 7. Do the Benefits Outweigh the Downsides? PART FOUR. DEVELOPING A HEALTHY SKEPTICISM 8. Beware of Exaggerated Importance 9. Beware of Exaggerated Certainty 10. Who's Behind the Numbers? EXTRA HELP Quick Summary Glossary Number Converter Risk Charts Credible Sources of Health Statistics Notes Index
