The otherwise excellent exposé by Marianne Freiberger and Rachel Thomas of the misuse of medical statistics itself fell into a common trap by quoting statistics as annual rates (12 February, p 40). This often makes numbers look reassuringly low, but is easily misinterpreted.
For example, adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus affecting 0.00569 per cent of white males annually does not sound like much to worry about, but it translates to a lifetime risk of 1 in 250, which is what ultimately matters.
Of course, the article made it clear when it gave annual figures, but others are not always so careful. I have seen, for instance, that "the risk of penile cancer is 1 in 100,000" and even, in a supposedly authoritative source, "only 1 man in 100,000 will develop penile cancer". Such figures are just plain wrong: this is the annual risk, so the lifetime risk is more ...
To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.