LETTER
Numeracy
Robert D. Blank, MD, PhD
1 May 1998 | Volume 128 Issue 9 | Page 783
TO THE EDITOR:
In their recent article, Schwartz and colleagues [1] raise the important issue of whether patients have sufficient quantitative reasoning ability to understand risk–benefit information about mammography. They show that women's ability to gauge their risks for breast cancer and potential benefit from mammography correlates with greater numeracy, as measured by a three-item questionnaire. It is hard to overstate the importance of this finding because it has profound implications for clinical practice and for our understanding of informed consent in this and other settings. The authors' findings lead naturally to another, even more disturbing question: How "numerate" are physicians? Just as patients may be unable to assess quantitative information, physicians may not be able to present information clearly and accurately. Has this been investigated? Are there measured differences between the numerical skills of internists, family practitioners, and gynecologists? If we as a population are failing to effectively present quantitative information to our patients, then it is imperative that we recognize and remedy that failure.
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Author and Article Information
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The Hospital for Special Surgery; New York, NY 10021
1. Schwartz LM, Woloshin S, Black WC, Welch HG. The role of numeracy in understanding the benefit of screening mammography. Ann Intern Med. 1997; 127:966-72.
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