How a ‘risk’ statistic is framed can influence a woman’s perception of the ‘risk’ expressed, and ultimately influence her decision making.
Often women are told the RELATIVE risk of something. That is, how much more likely one group is to experience an outcome than another. However, without knowing the ABSOLUTE risk it says nothing about the actual chance of that outcome occurring.
How often does that ‘thing’ actually happen is the ABSOLUTE risk
Being told things like “your risk doubles”, “you are three times more likely” is the RELATIVE risk.
But knowing the ABSOLUTE risk will tell you what that “doubling” actually means.
An example of this is if your waters broke and labour did not start within 24 hrs you might be told that the risk of infection doubles after 24 hrs. Scary right?
That information is correct, it does double from 1:100 to 2:100, or from a 1% chance to a 2% chance. This is the ABSOLUTE risk.
In other words, there is a 98% chance no infection will develop.
So if you’re told something is too ‘risky’ it is important to find out all of the information. Ask what is the actual chance of that happening (if they can’t answer look for the door 😜).
The only person who can decide if something is too ‘risky’ is YOU.
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