Statistics in Medicine: merit and mith cogitation of a clinician
Keywords:
statisticsAbstract
Biological sciences are not of an exact nature. Medicine is not properly a science, but a scientifically founded profession wich deals with individual cases of undefinable variety. To mathematize Medicine is attempting but faces great limitations. Statistics, the branch of mathematics more closely linked to medical activities, is very useful to define trends. Nevertheless, there is no guarantee that statistical antecipations will in fact happen, in a individual case.
Additionally to this limitation of intrinsic nature, one must be aware of formal errors, abusive interpretations, difficulties in reading results, differences of conclusions in dependence of methods, and many other problems. Clinical decision must consider statistical data, among several other sources of information. However, the global sense of the doctor will never be replaced by the myth of an abstract and unexpressive list of figures. A diagnostic procedure, a therapeutic approach, the disclosure of the prognosis are always personal choices. The physician makes his option having in mind the complex problematic of an individual patient, wich is by no means possible to simplify in a formula or an equation.
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