Statistical Literacy

摘要

Currently in the United States a prostate cancer drug is beingtouted in a novel way:The primary benefit of the drug is claimedto be not that it reduces the risk of the disease,but rather that itreduces the risk of being treated for the disease."Men are gettingscreened, discovering that they have cancers that may or maynot be dangerous,and opting for treatments that can leave themimpotent or incontinent... Preventing the cancer can preventtreatments that can be debilitating, even if the cancers werenever lethal to start with"(Kolata,2008,p.Al).Such is the stateof doctor-patient communication:Most doctors and virtually allpatients are unschooled in how meaningfully to compare therisks of foregoing versus undergoing treatment,and the patient'sfrantic desire to"do something,now"often trumps the doctor'sancient commitment to"first,do no harm."