Evidence map›Paper›PMID 18421509›Full record

ArticleJournal of general internal medicine2008

The ethics of information: absolute risk reduction and patient understanding of screening.

Peter H Schwartz, Eric M Meslin

Abstract readEditorial
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of general internal medicine, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Article
  4. Layperson Views about the Design and Evaluation of Decision Aids: A Public Deliberation.Medical decision making : an international journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making · 2021
    Article
  5. Better decision making in preventive health screening: Balancing benefits and harms.Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien · 2017
    Article
  6. Review
  7. Risk communication in clinical trials: a cognitive experiment and a survey.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2010
    Article
  8. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Peter H SchwartzIndiana University Center for Bioethics, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA. phschwar@iupui.edu
Eric M Meslin

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Some experts have argued that patients should routinely be told the specific magnitude and absolute probability of potential risks and benefits of screening tests. This position is motivated by the idea that framing risk information in ways that are less precise violates the ethical principle of respect for autonomy and its application in informed consent or shared decision-making. In this Perspective, we consider a number of problems with this view that have not been adequately addressed. The most important challenges stem from the danger that patients will misunderstand the information or have irrational responses to it. Any initiative in this area should take such factors into account and should consider carefully how to apply the ethical principles of respect for autonomy and beneficence.

Indexed as

Informed ConsentPatient Education as TopicRisk Reduction BehaviorDecision MakingHumansMass ScreeningPatient ParticipationPersonal AutonomyPrimary PreventionRisk Assessment

Identifiers

PMID18421509
PMCPMC2517883

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.