The NNT Intervention Quiz

We put together this quiz to see if your ratings match up with ours, based our summaries and interpretations of the evidence. We've rounded some numbers here and there, and kept quiet about specifics as not to bias you, but kept the magnitude of the effects we report the same.

Medication A

About The Medication:
  • It's an infusion (a nurse must get the medicine, program a pump to give the medicine slowly over a period of time, and connect it to the patient).
  • It costs $3000 per dose.
The Numbers:
  • 5 trials have been done on this drug, totaling 1500 patients.
  • 2 trials showed a benefit.
  • 3 trials did not show a benefit.
  • When the trial numbers are put together, overall, there was no benefit found.
  • There are no known harms to giving the medication.

Which rating would you assign?

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Medication B

About The Medication:
  • It's a one-time medication (either given IV or by mouth).
  • It costs $5-10 per dose.
The Numbers:
  • 12 trials have been done on this drug, totaling 800 patients.
  • 11 trials showed a benefit.
  • 1 trial did not show a benefit.
  • Overall, giving the medicine to 8 patients prevents 1 hospital admission, and giving it to 10 patients prevents a relapse of the patient's symptoms.
  • There are no serious harms to giving the medication.

Which rating would you assign?

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Procedure C

About The Procedure:
  • It generally takes 30-60 minutes to do.
  • It requires at least one doctor and one nurse to perform for the entirety of the procedure.
  • It costs $2000 per patient.
The Numbers:
  • 2 trials have been done on this procedure, totaling 4000 patients.
  • No trials showed a benefit.
  • There are no known medical harms to the procedure.

Which rating would you assign?

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Medication D

About The Medication:
  • It's a pill.
  • It costs $0.10 per dose.
The Numbers:
  • Only 1 (very large, and very high-quality) trial has addressed this medication for one particular purpose, totaling 17,000 patients.
  • This large trial showed a benefit of preventing 1 death when given to 42 patients (NNT = 42).
  • When given to 167 patients, 1 will have increased bleeding (but bleeding that does not require transfusion).

Which rating would you assign?

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Medication E

About The Medication:
  • It's a push medicine (given over minutes).
  • 1% of patients are helped.
  • 1% of the patients are harmed.
  • The harms and benefits are of equal importance/severity.
  • It costs $10 per dose.
The Numbers:
  • 31 trials have been done on this medication, totaling 22000 patients.
  • As we said above, the overall benefits of the medication were equally matched with the harms of the medication.

Which rating would you assign?

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Medication F

About The Medication:
  • It's an infusion (a nurse must get the medicine, program a pump to give the medicine slowly over a period of time, and connect it to the patient).
  • No benefit has been found.
  • 2% of the patients are harmed.
  • It costs $10 per dose.
The Numbers:
  • 1 trial has been done on this medication, totaling 100 patients.

Which rating would you assign?

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