THINK … TIME IS LIFE

After being informed of an adverse event, people commonly overestimate the risk of that adverse event’s happening to them. Such overestimation unduly increases the anxiety related to an adverse event.² The way healthcare professionals present data and interact with patients has a significant impact on risk perception. Overestimation can be lessened by presenting the risk as the probability of both having and not having the event and by using numbers in addition to words and frequencies rather than percentages to convey the risk.²

Patients are especially interested in factors that might reduce their risk even when a causal link between the factor and a reduction in risk has not been established. Knowledge of these risk factors might suggest behaviors that could modify the risk factors (e.g., improved therapy adherence), increase the person’s sense of control, and reduce the anxiety that comes from awareness of the risk.²