Know Your Chances: Understanding Health Statistics

Woloshin, Steven; Schwartz, Lisa M.; Welch, H. Gilbert

ISBN 10: 0520252225 / ISBN 13: 9780520252226

Published by University of California Press, 2008

Former library book; Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G0520252225I3N10

Synopsis:

Every day we are bombarded by television ads, public service announcements, and media reports warning of dire risks to our health and offering solutions to help us lower those risks. But many of these messages are incomplete, misleading, or exaggerated, leaving the average person misinformed and confused. "Know Your Chances" is a lively, accessible, and carefully researched book that can help consumers sort through this daily barrage by teaching them how to interpret the numbers behind the messages.In clear and simple steps, the authors - all of them staff physicians at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in White River Junction, Vermont - take the mystery out of medical statistics. By learning to understand the medical statistics and knowing what questions to ask, readers will be able to see through the hype and find out what - if any - credible information remains. The book's easy-to-understand charts will help ordinary people put their health concerns into perspective. This short, reader-friendly volume will foster communication between patients and doctors and provide the basic critical-thinking skills necessary for navigating today's confusing health landscape.

About the Author: Steven Woloshin, MD, MS, Lisa Schwartz, MD, MS, and H. Gilbert Welch, MD, MPH, are general internists, faculty members at Dartmouth Medical School, and researchers in the VA Outcomes Group, Department of Veterans Affairs, White River Junction, Vermont. Woloshin and Schwartz have written many articles together for leading medical journals, and Welch is the author of Should I Be Tested for Cancer? Maybe Not and Here's Why (UC Press).

Bibliographic Details

Title: Know Your Chances: Understanding Health ...
Publisher: University of California Press
Publication Date: 2008
Binding: Paperback
Condition: Good
Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket