Absolute risk (or AR) is the probability or chance of an event. It is usually used for the number of events (such as a disease) that occurred in a group, divided by the number of people in that group.[1]
Absolute risk is one of the most understandable ways of communicating health risks to the general public.[2]
In difference to absolute risk, the relative risk (RR) is the ratio of the probability of an outcome (probability) in an exposed group to the probability of an outcome in an unexposed group.
- ^ Porta, Miquel, ed. (2014). A dictionary of epidemiology (PDF) (Six ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199976720. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
- ^ Trevena, LJ; Davey, HM; Barratt, A; Butow, P; Caldwell, P (February 2006). "A systematic review on communicating with patients about evidence". Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice. 12 (1): 13–23. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2753.2005.00596.x. PMID 16422776.