Interpreting statistics in medical literature: A vade mecum for surgeons1

∗Department of Surgery, Durham, NC, USA †Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA ‡Department of Surgery, Divisions of General Surgery and Surgical Research, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland Correspondence address: Ulrich Guller, MD, MHS, University of Basel, Department of Surgery, Divisions of General Surgery and Surgical Research, Spitalstr 21, CH-4031 Basel, Switzerland Submitted May 13, 2003; revised September 17, 2003; accepted September 18, 2003. The Swiss National Foundation, Bern/Switzerland, Krebsliga beider Basel, Basel/Switzerland, Freiwillige Akademische Gesellschaft, Basel/Switzerland, and Fondazione Gustav e Ruth Jacob, Aranno/Switzerland provided financial support for Dr Guller’s research fellowship at Duke University Medical Center. Partial funding for Dr DeLong was provided by a grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (No. HS09940). 1No competing interests declared.