Table 5 Net benefit for treating high-risk and all patients, varying the effectiveness and tolerability of intervention.
From: Selecting patients for randomized trials: a systematic approach based on risk group
Scenario | Relative Risk | NNTt | Sensitivity | Specificity | Net benefit (high-risk) | Net benefit (treat all) | Net benefit: high-risk – treat all |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Effective intervention | 0.50 | 100 | 40% | 80% | 0.00790 | 0.01500 | -0.00710 |
Effective intervention, high sensitivity | 0.50 | 100 | 95% | 45% | 0.01805 | 0.01500 | 0.00305 |
Highly tolerable intervention | 0.75 | 500 | 40% | 80% | 0.00458 | 0.01050 | -0.00592 |
Highly tolerable intervention, high sensitivity | 0.75 | 500 | 95% | 40% | 0.01064 | 0.01050 | 0.00014 |
Adverse intervention | 0.75 | 40 | 40% | 80% | -0.00025 | -0.01250 | - |
Adverse intervention, high specificity | 0.75 | 40 | 30% | 90% | 0.00100 | -0.01250 | 0.01350 |
The ideal intervention, high sensitivity and specificity | 0.25 | 500 | 95% | 90% | 0.03534 | 0.03550 | -0.00016 |
Questionable intervention, poor sensitivity and specificity | 0.80 | 100 | 51% | 51% | 0.00019 | 0.00000 | 0.00019 |