Medical Decision Making and the Counting of Uncertainty.

Medical Decision Making and the Counting of Uncertainty. Circulation. 2014 Apr 17; Authors: Ye S Abstract In economic theory, homo economicus is a concept used to explain decision-making as a rational exercise.(1) The "economic man", to use the term often associated with the work of the utilitarian philosopher John Stuart Mills, is someone who makes decisions by carefully weighing the benefits and costs of his options, then deciding on a course of action that maximizes his utility. Although now considered overly simplistic, this idea is often implicit in how we as clinicians have traditionally approached medical decision-making. In the case of statins for the primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases, the choice is frequently framed in terms of the trade-off between the potential benefit of preventing a future heart attack or stroke (i.e., utility) versus the side effects and inconveniences of taking a medication (i.e., disutility). Thus the recently released 2013 American Heart Association / American College of Cardiology Guideline on the Treatment of Blood Cholesterol reminds us that, in addition to calculating estimated atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk to determine statin eligibility, we should engage with patients "in a discussion... to consider the potential for ASCVD benefit and for adverse effects, for drug-drug interactions, and patient preferences for treatment."(2) Yet, while much of the debate over t...
Source: Circulation - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: Circulation Source Type: research