The difference in risk between two groups, one receiving a treatment and the other receiving a placebo or standard treatment, reveals the benefit attributable to the intervention. For example, if 10% of patients in a control group experience a particular event, while only 5% of those receiving the treatment experience the same event, the absolute difference is 5 percentage points. This figure represents the actual decrease in the incidence of the event directly attributable to the treatment.
Understanding this difference provides a clear picture of the impact of an intervention. It allows healthcare professionals and patients to assess the real-world benefits of a treatment, aiding in informed decision-making. Early applications of this calculation in clinical trials helped to establish a more transparent way to communicate treatment efficacy, moving beyond relative measures that can sometimes be misleading.
