Relative risk reduction: Misinformative measure in clinical trials and COVID-19 vaccine efficacy
Treatment and vaccine efficacy in clinical trials are often reported in the media and medical journals as the relative risk reduction. The present article explains why the relative risk reduction is a misinformative measure that promotes disinformation when reporting efficacy in clinical research st...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Dialogues in Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772653322000740 |
| _version_ | 1811178596650188800 |
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| author | Ronald B. Brown |
| author_facet | Ronald B. Brown |
| author_sort | Ronald B. Brown |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Treatment and vaccine efficacy in clinical trials are often reported in the media and medical journals as the relative risk reduction. The present article explains why the relative risk reduction is a misinformative measure that promotes disinformation when reporting efficacy in clinical research studies such as randomized controlled trials for COVID-19 vaccines. The relative risk reduction is based on the relative risk, a proportional measure or ratio used in epidemiologic studies to estimate the probability of a disease associated with an exposure. The present article demonstrates how the relative risk reduction and relative risk obscure the magnitude of disease risk reduction in clinical research. The absolute risk reduction is shown to be a more precise and reliable measure of treatment and vaccine efficacy in clinical research studies. The absolute risk reduction reciprocal also measures the number needed to treat or vaccinate, and is a more accurate measure than the relative risk reduction for comparing risk reductions of clinical studies. Additionally, the present article reviews consequences of COVID-19 vaccine efficacy misinformation disseminated through media reports. The article concludes that relative risk reduction should not be used to measure treatment and vaccine efficacy in clinical trials. What is new?: • Unreliability of relative measures in clinical trials is graphically illustrated, demonstrating constant relative measures as absolute measures change. • Misuse of relative measures in clinical research is historically linked to misinterpretation of Jerome Cornfield’s advice on measuring causative and associative effects. • Consequences of disinformation and misinformation related to COVID-19 vaccine efficacy and modern clinical medicine are described. • The proper use of absolute measures in meta-analyses is explained. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T06:21:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c99dd503bef74307aa76a67b2ce946ee |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2772-6533 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T06:21:06Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Dialogues in Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-c99dd503bef74307aa76a67b2ce946ee2022-12-22T04:40:34ZengElsevierDialogues in Health2772-65332022-12-011100074Relative risk reduction: Misinformative measure in clinical trials and COVID-19 vaccine efficacyRonald B. Brown0School of Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, CanadaTreatment and vaccine efficacy in clinical trials are often reported in the media and medical journals as the relative risk reduction. The present article explains why the relative risk reduction is a misinformative measure that promotes disinformation when reporting efficacy in clinical research studies such as randomized controlled trials for COVID-19 vaccines. The relative risk reduction is based on the relative risk, a proportional measure or ratio used in epidemiologic studies to estimate the probability of a disease associated with an exposure. The present article demonstrates how the relative risk reduction and relative risk obscure the magnitude of disease risk reduction in clinical research. The absolute risk reduction is shown to be a more precise and reliable measure of treatment and vaccine efficacy in clinical research studies. The absolute risk reduction reciprocal also measures the number needed to treat or vaccinate, and is a more accurate measure than the relative risk reduction for comparing risk reductions of clinical studies. Additionally, the present article reviews consequences of COVID-19 vaccine efficacy misinformation disseminated through media reports. The article concludes that relative risk reduction should not be used to measure treatment and vaccine efficacy in clinical trials. What is new?: • Unreliability of relative measures in clinical trials is graphically illustrated, demonstrating constant relative measures as absolute measures change. • Misuse of relative measures in clinical research is historically linked to misinterpretation of Jerome Cornfield’s advice on measuring causative and associative effects. • Consequences of disinformation and misinformation related to COVID-19 vaccine efficacy and modern clinical medicine are described. • The proper use of absolute measures in meta-analyses is explained.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772653322000740Relative risk reductionRelative riskAbsolute risk reductionNumber needed to treatNumber needed to vaccinateCOVID-19 vaccines |
| spellingShingle | Ronald B. Brown Relative risk reduction: Misinformative measure in clinical trials and COVID-19 vaccine efficacy Dialogues in Health Relative risk reduction Relative risk Absolute risk reduction Number needed to treat Number needed to vaccinate COVID-19 vaccines |
| title | Relative risk reduction: Misinformative measure in clinical trials and COVID-19 vaccine efficacy |
| title_full | Relative risk reduction: Misinformative measure in clinical trials and COVID-19 vaccine efficacy |
| title_fullStr | Relative risk reduction: Misinformative measure in clinical trials and COVID-19 vaccine efficacy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Relative risk reduction: Misinformative measure in clinical trials and COVID-19 vaccine efficacy |
| title_short | Relative risk reduction: Misinformative measure in clinical trials and COVID-19 vaccine efficacy |
| title_sort | relative risk reduction misinformative measure in clinical trials and covid 19 vaccine efficacy |
| topic | Relative risk reduction Relative risk Absolute risk reduction Number needed to treat Number needed to vaccinate COVID-19 vaccines |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772653322000740 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ronaldbbrown relativeriskreductionmisinformativemeasureinclinicaltrialsandcovid19vaccineefficacy |