NNT - critical appraisal just got easier

"number of patients that need to be treated for
one to benefit compared with a control"

- Bandolier Glossary

Number needed to treat is a useful measure when evaluating the benefit (or harm) of a new treatment. Sometimes that's not terribly clear from the articles which are published (although there are calculations you can do to work out the NTT, such as this one from EBEM.org, or this one from CEBM.org or this one from GP-Training.net)

There's a new website that might help too - http://www.thennt.com/
"At TheNNT.com we believe that the traditional peer review process, while effective in some ways, has led to important problems in the way evidence is presented, interpreted, and implemented. In particular the methods of results reporting in peer-reviewed medical journals have not been consistent, clear, or understandable. TheNNT.com is designed to address this gap."

You can search, or browse by speciality, system or by rating (green, amber, red, depending on how much benefit or harm there is).