Is NNT AOK?

Abstract

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) has now entered the mainstream of medical practice. A simple PubMed search performed on October 13, 2004 using evidence-based medicine as the search term returned more than 15,000 citations. In the EBM framework, effects of treatment are commonly summarized by the number needed to treat (NNT). The concept of NNT was introduced by Laupacis et al. more than 15 years ago as a “clinically useful” method to measure the benefits of a particular treatment ( 1 Laupacis A. Sackett D.L. Roberts R.S. An assessment of clinically useful measures of the consequences of treatment. N Engl J Med. 1988; 318: 1728-1733 Crossref PubMed Scopus (1290) Google Scholar ). In the last decade, NNT has been adopted by many investigators in generalist and specialist contexts. In this volume of the Journal, Jani et al. present a utility-adjusted NNT analysis in an attempt to weigh the risks and benefits associated with the use of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in men with early-stage prostate cancer ( 2 Jani AB, Kao J, Heimann R, Hellman S. Hormone therapy and radiotherapy for early prostate cancer: A utility-adjusted number needed to treat (NNT) analysis. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 2005; 61:687–694. Google Scholar ). The authors are to be congratulated for integrating EBM into the discipline of radiation oncology.