A new graphical format to communicate treatment effects to patients-A web-based randomized controlled trial

Area of Science:

• Medical decision making
• Health communication
• Data visualization

Background:

• Patients need clear, evidence-based information for treatment decisions.
• Current graphical methods for presenting medical benefits and side effects lack conclusive evidence regarding effectiveness.
• The CLARIFIG (clarifying risk figures) format was developed to improve comprehension of health information.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the novel CLARIFIG graphical format for presenting medical treatment information.
• To compare CLARIFIG's accuracy of comprehension and processing time against multifigure pictographs (MFP).
• To assess static and animated versions of both CLARIFIG and MFP formats.

Main Methods:

• A web-based randomized controlled trial involving 682 patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).
• Comparison of CLARIFIG and MFP formats (static and animated) for presenting immunotherapy effects.
• Primary outcome: comprehension accuracy; Secondary outcome: processing time.

Main Results:

• No significant difference in comprehension rates between CLARIFIG and MFP for static or animated versions.
• CLARIFIG showed significantly shorter processing time than MFP only in the animated version.
• Both animated formats resulted in more incorrect answers and longer processing times compared to static formats.

Conclusions:

• The CLARIFIG format demonstrates comparable comprehension to multifigure pictographs.
• CLARIFIG shows potential for simplifying complex treatment comparisons in patient decision aids.
• Further research is necessary to fully establish CLARIFIG's utility in clinical settings.