Communicating risk

Question 1

Two measures of risk / benefit

Answer 1

Relative risk/benefit - just compares two

Absolute risk/benefit - takes into account chance of it actually happening

Question 2

Advice on presenting risk

Answer 2

Explain in context
Present over defined time period
Avoid terms such as ‘risk’ ‘rare’ ‘unusual’ and ‘common’ - people interpret these differently
Use fractions /100 instead of percentages
Use same denominator
Use positive and negative framing (word it using both fractions)

Question 3

Example of presenting risk

Answer 3

Diabetes type 2 Risk score

Kidney failure risk equation