RELATIVE RISK AND ABSOLUTE RISK

The concept of the threshold of therapeutic intervention as a function of the absolute risk is introduced. The definitions of relative risk and absolute risk are then recalled; in the case of absolute risk, onl y prolonged observation of a cohort combined with multivariate statist ical analysis can select the most relevant risk factors and attribute a relative weighting to each factor. Software may be helpful. The role s of the age high-risk productions, their lifestyle, modalities of the rapeutic intervention, and economic implications are discussed.