Corey A. Siegel
Review article: explaining risks of inflammatory bowel disease therapy to patients
Dartmouth–Hitchcock Medical Center
medical treatment inflammatory bowel disease ibd advanced significantly past decade important communicate effectively balance benefits risks therapy patients facilitate informed medical decisionsto review available data describing risk side effects ibd medications describe effective methods communicating riskto identify relevant articles review pubmed search conducted using relevant key words phrases addition reference lists identified manuscripts searched recent abstracts national meetings reviewedthe steroidsparing medications used treatment ibd carry risks common rare adverse events tradeoffs need made risks medications vs risks poorly treated disease corticosteroids significant research best present risk data patients summarized reviewto ensure patients understand choices feel comfortable treatment need communicate risk data patients clearly patients comprehend absolute numbers better relative risk available pictorial representations data preferred solely presenting numerical outcomes