ADJUSTING THE NUMBER NEEDED TO TREAT - INCORPORATING ADJUSTMENTS FOR THE UTILITY AND TIMING OF BENEFITS AND HARMS

The number needed to treat is a unique and cognitively useful summary measurement for the description of medical treatments. However, the or iginal concept lacks the means to account for multiple benefits and ha rms or differences in the utilities or timings of patient outcomes. Th e authors describe an ''adjusted'' number needed to treat that allows for the inclusion of multiple harms and benefits, and also adjustments for the utilities and timings of these outcomes. This expanded versio n offers a richer description of medical outcomes, and may be utilized as an adjunct to traditional risk-benefit, cost-effectiveness, and de cision-analytic techniques.