Advantages and disadvantages

How sure are you?

Always ask yourself how sure you are that the possible advantages of a treatment are better than the possible disadvantages of the treatment.

Whether or not you decide to use a treatment may depend on how sure you are about its good and bad effects. For example, you may decide not to use a treatment if you are not sure it will help or that it is safe.

How sure you can be depends on whether claims about the effects of the treatment are based on a careful summary of studies comparing treatments, whether the studies were fair comparisons, how big the studies were, and how relevant the comparisons are to you.

REMEMBER: Ask yourself how sure you are that the advantages are better than the disadvantages.