Importance of NNT Posted on October 19, 2007 Helena Kraemer (bio) advances NNT as a way of communicating with clinicians.

NNT is number needed to treat in a randomized clinical trial or it’s number needed to take in a risk research study. And it’s the answer to the question, “How many people would I have to give this new treatment to, to get one more success or one less failure than if I give this same number whatever I used as the controlled condition?” So if I tell you that number needed to treat is two, that is enormously successful treatment because every two people, you get one extra success. If I tell you it’s 200, that has to convey a little less satisfaction with the treatment. Now the thing about NNT is I can translate every d. I know what d means. It means, d creates a picture in my mind but it doesn’t create a picture in any patient’s mind and any clinician. When I can translate a d into an NNT and if NNT speaks to the clinicians, that’s the way I’ll talk to them.

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