Understanding risk -- Putting risk in perspective -- Risk charts : a way to get perspective -- Judging the benefit of a health intervention -- Not all benefits are equal : understand the outcome -- Consider the downsides -- Do the benefits outweight the downsides? -- Beware of exaggerated importance -- Beware of exaggerated certainty -- Who's behind the numbers?

Every day we are bombarded by television ads, public service announcements, and media reports warning of dire risks to our health and offering solutions to help us lower those risks. But many of these messages are incomplete, misleading, or exaggerated, leaving the average person misinformed and confused. Know Your Chances is a lively, accessible, and carefully researched book that can help consumers sort through this daily barrage by teaching them how to interpret the numbers behind the messages. In clear and simple steps, the authors—all of them staff physicians at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in White River Junction, Vermont—take the mystery out of medical statistics. By learning to understand the medical statistics and knowing what questions to ask, readers will be able to see through the hype and find out what—if any—credible information remains. The book's easy-to-understand charts will help ordinary people put their health concerns into perspective.This short, reader-friendly volume will foster communication between patients and doctors and provide the basic critical-thinking skills necessary for navigating today's confusing health landscape.

The purpose of this manual is to provide an educational genetics resource for individuals, families, and health professionals in the New York - Mid-Atlantic region and increase awareness of specialty care in genetics. The manual begins with a basic introduction to genetics concepts, followed by a description of the different types and applications of genetic tests. It also provides information about diagnosis of genetic disease, family history, newborn screening, and genetic counseling. Resources are included to assist in patient care, patient and professional education, and identification of specialty genetics services within the New York - Mid-Atlantic region. At the end of each section, a list of references is provided for additional information. Appendices can be copied for reference and offered to patients. These take-home resources are critical to helping both providers and patients understand some of the basic concepts and applications of genetics and genomics.

Chances Are is the first book to make statistics accessible to everyone, regardless of how much math you remember from school.

Did you know that your chances of dying of rabies this year are less than your chances of being hit by a falling airplane? Guaranteed to pique your curiosity and open your eyes about life's myriad perils, this book takes a lighthearted look at the risks we face every day, providing hours of astonishing information. Sidebars and graphs.

Every day we make decisions about our health - some big and some small. What we eat, how we live and even where we live can affect our health. But how can we be sure that the advice we are given about these important matters is right for us? This book will provide you with the right tools for assessing health advice.

Roulette wheels and the plague -- Surely something's wrong with you -- The life table : you can bet on it! -- The rarest events -- The waiting game -- Stockbrokers and climate change.