Posts Tagged ‘medical statistics’
Is misinterpreting scientific papers an Academic crime ? No, its not, I do it often !
Posted in bio ethics, Medical ethics, medical quotes, medical satistics, tagged fraud in medical research, hippocrates oath modern science, how to interpret a study, how to read a scientific paper, jokes in science, medical ethics, medical research errors, medical statistics on June 28, 2016| Leave a Comment »
A statistical joke called “Non-Inferiority” drug trial !
Posted in Cardiology-Statistics, Uncategorized, tagged gimmicks in medical statistics, medical statistics, non inferiority clinical trials, Non inferiority drug trials on August 27, 2013| 1 Comment »
Of late many drugs are entering the market for human consumption backed up by Non -Inferiority trials (NIT ) .Few examples.
“Feb 20, 2013 – … in the New England Journal of Medicine Show Dabigatran Etexilate ... daily was non-inferior to warfarin (p=0.01) in preventing recurrent VTE, …”
What is the logic behind these Non inferiority trials ?
Why it came into vogue ?
Do you agree with the concept of NIT ?
I have taken the privilege of putting my answer in the title. Believers of NIT please excuse me.
Reference
Bed side statistics and numerical fun !
Posted in bio ethics, Infrequently asked questions in cardiology (iFAQs), tagged medical statistics on May 12, 2011| Leave a Comment »
In this world of evidence based medicine the funny bedside vocabulary of medical statistics has withstood the test of time. The following words are liberally used by physicians of all walks of life.
We never bother to find what these words mean to our patients !
Here is a crude and wild numerical attempt to decode these words.
- Always 99 %
- It s a rule 95-99%
- Almost always 90-95%
- Very common > 90 %
- Common > 75%
- Uncommon < 30 %
- Rare < 10 %
- Very rare < 5 %
- It is an exception 2 -5 %
- Remote < 2 %
- Never < 1%
Apart from the above there two hugely popular medical words used over million times every day in all walks of medical practice.
They are ” May” and “May not”
The greatness of these words lies in the fact it can convey any of the above 10 meanings in a single phrase without any fuss !
Further , the words may and may not are numberless un-quantified statistical jargons that can convey a deep meaning or . . . no meaning depending upon the circumstances !
Doctor , is there a possibility of my stent getting occluded as i have skipped the clopidgrel ,and aspirin for the past two weeks
You may be at risk . . . but you may not develop an heart attack immediately . I would advice you start the drug immediately .