[Time in good health--the holy grail of medicine]

One of the challenges in medicine is to give patients good advice and guidance that will enable them to live for as long as possible in as good a state of health as possible. Prevention of disease is the best treatment. This is why it is so important to accurately predict the risk of various diseases such as cancer, vascular disease or diabetes mellitus. In high-risk patients it is useful to take preventative measures. To do this it is necessary to have information about the expected absolute treatment effect for each individual patient. All this information can then be used in a discussion between the patient and their treating professional so that together they can make an informed decision about whether or not to take preventative measures that are aimed at a longer disease-free life. This may or may not mean living longer, but it does mean a life in as good a state of health as possible.