Absolute risk explained

Absolute risk (or AR) is the probability or chance of an event. It is usually used for the number of events (such as a disease) that occurred in a group, divided by the number of people in that group.^[1]

Absolute risk is one of the most understandable ways of communicating health risks to the general public.^[2]

In difference to absolute risk, the relative risk (RR) is the ratio of the probability of an outcome (probability) in an exposed group to the probability of an outcome in an unexposed group. The UK government’s chief scientific adviser during the COVID-19 pandemic said, that Boris Johnson found relative and absolute risk "almost impossible to understand".^[3]

See also

• Absolute risk reduction
• Relative risk reduction

External links

• Know Your Chances: Understanding Health Statistics

Notes and References

1. Book: Porta. Miquel. A dictionary of epidemiology.. 2014. Oxford University Press. Oxford. 9780199976720. Six. 11 November 2017.
2. Trevena . LJ . Davey . HM . Barratt . A . Butow . P . Phyllis Butow . Caldwell . P . February 2006 . A systematic review on communicating with patients about evidence. . Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice . 12 . 1 . 13–23 . 10.1111/j.1365-2753.2005.00596.x . 16422776 . free.
3. Iacobucci . Gareth . 2023-11-27 . Covid inquiry: The week that science became both bamboozling and a millstone . BMJ . en . 383 . 2788 . 10.1136/bmj.p2788 . 1756-1833 . 38011918. 265464679 . free .