{"title":"[Medical treatment can become more efficient].","authors":"Peter H J van der Voort","doi":"","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A substantial part of our expenditure on medical treatment aims to cure the patient from the disease. The effectiveness of these treatments has been proven by Evidence Based Medicine and is assessed by comparing groups of patients. However, not all individual patients benefit from the treatment. In trials this effect is measured by calculating the number needed to treat (NNT). The NNT can be seen as a proxy for the inefficiency of a medical intervention. Usually the NNT is 5 to 50 for both medical and non-medical interventions, which means that a substantial number of patients will not reach the primary endpoint. This is accompanied by adverse effects and costs and is in conflict with our intention to do no further harm. An increase in phase IV post marketing research is needed to reduce the inefficiency of medical treatment. Doctors, government and others should prioritize this type of research.</p>","PeriodicalId":18903,"journal":{"name":"Nederlands tijdschrift voor geneeskunde","volume":"169 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Nederlands tijdschrift voor geneeskunde","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"Medicine","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
A substantial part of our expenditure on medical treatment aims to cure the patient from the disease. The effectiveness of these treatments has been proven by Evidence Based Medicine and is assessed by comparing groups of patients. However, not all individual patients benefit from the treatment. In trials this effect is measured by calculating the number needed to treat (NNT). The NNT can be seen as a proxy for the inefficiency of a medical intervention. Usually the NNT is 5 to 50 for both medical and non-medical interventions, which means that a substantial number of patients will not reach the primary endpoint. This is accompanied by adverse effects and costs and is in conflict with our intention to do no further harm. An increase in phase IV post marketing research is needed to reduce the inefficiency of medical treatment. Doctors, government and others should prioritize this type of research.
期刊介绍：
Het NTVG staat bekend als hét wetenschappelijke algemene medische tijdschrift. De lange historie en de degelijkheid maken het tijdschrift tot een bolwerk van medische wetenschap in druk. Ook door de goede leesbaarheid draagt het tijdschrift bij aan de voortdurende dialoog over de geneeskunde.
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