Risk reduction

Term used in statistics as a yardstick in clinical trials. Risk reduction refers to the percentage by which a risk (e.g. of dying) is reduced. A decrease in risk from 8% to 6% corresponds to an absolute risk reduction of 2% and a relative risk reduction of 25%. The "Relative RiskReduction" is a good parameter to assess what an intervention (e.g. medication) against the disease can achieve. The "Risk Reduction" says little about the benefit of this intervention, except for very high values. The individual benefit for a single person is more understandably shown by the absolute risk reduction.