Words Representing Numeric Probabilities in Medical Writing Are Ambiguous and Misinterpreted

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Words of estimative probability are used in medical writing. Authors know the number they intend the word to mean, readers do not. The objective of this study is to assess the variability of words having numeric meaning to medical doctors. DESIGN: A survey of 131 American trained MD’s and DO’s was done regarding their interpretation of 27 commonly used words of the estimative probability they placed on each word. METHODS: Statistical assessments were done to evaluate specific word meaning as a number or range to physicians and compared to each other’s interpretation. RESULTS: For 19 of the 27 words had a 30% +/− (60% variance) of interpretation. Twenty-five of the 27 had less than 38% agreement on numeric meaning. Only two words had more than 74% numeric agreement. CONCLUSION: Words of estimative probability have widely varied interpretations to physicians. This makes interpretation of those words incomprehensible for scientific meaning resulting in communication without comprehension.