Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Think about this

I am reading my textbook, and the current chapter is on hypertension (high blood pressure), and on controlling it. Read the following quote:
The benefits of a low risk status are enormous: A 72% to 85% reduction in Cardiovascular Disease mortality and a 40% to 58% reduction in mortality from all causes, leading to a gain of 5.8 to 9.5 years in life expectancy.
I would submit that the chance of mortality in all people, regardless of their risk factors remains unchanged and immutable at exactly 100%. You would think that there would be a better way to phrase this.

On a side note, it is currently spring break. However, studying in a program as intense as this never really starts or stops, it just is. In fact, it is a relief to get caught up on my studying without the complications of additional reading that would be placed upon me if class were in session this week.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It should say a "reduction in risk of EARLY mortality"

Medical textbooks suck at being statistically and grammatically correct.