Presenting treatment safety data: subjective interpretations of objective information

Educating patients about the risks of treatment is obligatory. An inherent problem with risk education is that patients can become terrified of rare risks associated with the treatment, resulting in possible treatment refusal, poor adherence, and continued disease symptoms. Such fears are a common obstacle observed with the use of biologic medications to treat psoriasis. In this article, we use graphical presentation of psoriasis safety data to illustrate how patients subjectively interpret objective information. Different ways of presenting safety data graphically include the use of truncated, full, and inversed y-axes, resulting in certain likely perceptions by the patient. Despite a physician's best intentions to give a patient objective information, patients will subjectively interpret objective safety data. Therefore, when presenting information, whether in the form of numerical descriptions or graphical presentations, the physician must use his/her best judgment to determine how to present safety data to patients to ensure their well-being and properly inform them about their treatment options.