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Equipoise is not synonymous with uncertainty
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
EDITOR
I was surprised by Sackett's contribution in the cluster
of letters about clinical equipoise.1 He attacks the word equipoise, on the ground that it is not used as commonly as the alternative word, uncertainty. Uncertainty, unlike equipoise, covers a
range of situations, not just clinical trials. It is the meaning
behind the word that is important.
Equipoise has been clearly defined within the paradigm of expected utility theory.2 "Patient equipoise" applies when the expected utilities of comparator treatments are equivalent. This provides a clear and precise meaning to the word equipoise, but if someone does not like the word then he or she should substitute another word with the same meaning. Uncertainty cannot be that word. Uncertainty is the opposite of certainty and therefore covers a huge range of possibilities, from equipoise all the way to certainty.
Gifford makes a relevant point in the same cluster of letters,
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Related Article
- Uncertainty about clinical equipoise
- Fred Gifford, R J Lilford, Benjamin Djulbegovic, and David L Sackett
BMJ 2001 322: 795.[Extract] [Full Text]
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