Absolute Versus Relative Risk: Can We Persuaded by Information Framing?

For an informed consent, patients must be impartially informed about the advantages, disadvantages and alternatives of the intervention of interest. This data should be presented in a neutral manner and without preconception to respect the autonomy of the patient. One common pitfall in presentation of data in medical literature is unintentional and seldom intentional misuse of Relative Risk Ratios (RRR) instead of Absolute Risk Ratios (ARR). This study discussed the differences between absolute and relative risk ratios followed by current evidence on how physicians and patients can be persuaded to alter their decisions by framing the data into relative risks.