11. What Is the Optimal Medical Decision?

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Preface to the English Edition ix
4. Prologue: A Science Named Epidemiology xiii
5. 1. Comparing Groups and the Fifth Dimension 1
6. 2. People, Bugs, and Epidemics 13
7. 3. Plague’s Shark Teeth and Seamen’s Enigmatic Exhaustion 31
8. 4. The Mystery of the Blue Death 41
9. 5. The Numerical Method 63
10. 6. Eugenics, Oysters, Sour Skin, and Breast Cancer 75
11. 7. Tobacco and Health: The Great Controversy 97
12. 8. Daily Life Mysteries and Epidemiology 125
13. 9. Is This Treatment Dangerous for Health? 135
14. 10. Does the Treatment Work? 141
15. 11. What Is the Optimal Medical Decision? 151
16. 12. Health Risk or Health Benefit? 157
17. 13. Is This Screening Useful? 167
18. 14. Group Comparisons Also Fail 171
19. 15. Epidemiologic Literacy and “Earthly Self-Realization” 183
20. 16. Beyond Epidemiology 193
21. Epilogue: The End of Epidemiology? 205
22. Appendix 1: Interaction of Causes 213
23. Appendix 2: Odds Ratio and Risk Ratio 215
24. Appendix 3: Why Cohort and Case–Control Studies Concur 217
25. Appendix 4: Where Do the Cases of Lung Cancer Come From? 221
26. Notes 223
27. Bibliography 243
28. Index 259