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Number needed to treat, and number needed to harm
Number needed to treat, and number needed to harm: "How many people have to do this for one person to benefit" is the most honest way to state a health…
This launch guide maps the topic, the source base and the practical questions. Check the linked official authority before acting on a rule, deadline, price or safety requirement.
What this guide covers
"How many people have to do this for one person to benefit" is the most honest way to state a health decision, and almost nothing in Estonian, Finnish or Russian explains it.
A page per common intervention pairs the NNT with the NNH from the same trials — statins by baseline risk, blood pressure treatment, antibiotics for sore throat and for otitis, flu vaccination by age, smoking cessation support, physiotherapy for back pain, bariatric surgery, calcium and hip fracture — each with the time horizon printed, because an NNT without one is meaningless. Around twenty-five intervention pages plus a calculator that converts event rates to NNT.
How to use it
Use Number needed to treat, and number needed to harm as a structured learning path: begin with the vocabulary, follow the evidence map, and keep the uncertainty labels attached to claims as you compare sources.
The page keeps the main question, its evidence base and its limits together in one canonical place. That makes it useful as a quick orientation and avoids splitting a broad subject into shallow pages before each narrower answer has enough verified material of its own.
Search vocabulary in four languages
Terminology changes across borders. These are example phrases people use for the same subject in Estonian, Finnish, Russian and English; they are included as a practical vocabulary aid, not as hidden keywords.
| Language | Example phrase |
|---|---|
| Estonian | mitut inimest tuleb ravida ühe kasu saamiseks |
| Finnish | number needed to treat suomeksi |
| Russian | число больных которых нужно пролечить |
| English | number needed to treat explained |
Evidence and provenance
The evidence map below records the primary, official or openly licensed material chosen for this guide. It is deliberately visible so a reader can tell the difference between a rule published by an authority, a measured dataset and an editorial explanation.
Source: own computation from absolute event rates published in Cochrane reviews and guideline evidence tables, cited per page. · checked 2026-09-09
Source names are preserved even where an authority changes its web address. No figure is added to this launch page unless it is already present in the cited source description or can be computed from a named dataset.
Scope and boundaries
written from primary event rates, not adapted from any graded third-party NNT collection. YMYL: every page ends at the prescriber.
Connected TempoLife guides
The following paths are the intentional hand-offs named in the brief. They keep adjacent subjects separate while making the next useful reference easy to find.
Absrisk
Continue to the related TempoLife reference.
Medcheck
Continue to the related TempoLife reference.
Screening
Continue to the related TempoLife reference.
Why it belongs on TempoLife
/absrisk, /medcheck, /screening.
Frequently asked questions
What does this guide cover?
"How many people have to do this for one person to benefit" is the most honest way to state a health decision, and almost nothing in Estonian, Finnish or Russian explains it. A page per common intervention pairs the NNT with the NNH from the same trials — statins by baseline risk, blood pressure treatment, antibiotics for sore throat and for otitis, flu vaccination by age, smoking cessation support, physiotherapy for back pain, bariatric surgery, calcium and hip fracture — each with the time horizon printed…
What evidence does it use?
own computation from absolute event rates published in Cochrane reviews and guideline evidence tables, cited per page.
Where does this guide stop?
written from primary event rates, not adapted from any graded third-party NNT collection. YMYL: every page ends at the prescriber.
Turn the reference into a routine
TempoLife brings food, movement, sleep and everyday health habits into one private place when you want to track what happens next.