Suppose You Read the Following Headline: "Taking an Aspirin a Day

question 23

Multiple Choice

Suppose you read the following headline: "Taking an aspirin a day can cut your risk of heart attack by almost half!" Suppose the news report goes on to tell you that the research is based on a very large well-designed randomized experiment with a p-value less than 0.0001.Assume this information is technically correct, given the results of the study.Which of the following statistics could actually represent the results of this study?

• A)The rates of heart attack were 9.4 per thousand for the aspirin group and 17.1 per thousand for the placebo group (non aspirin).
• B)94 people in the aspirin group had a heart attack, compared to 171 people in the non-aspirin group.
• C)The risk of a heart attack for the aspirin group was 45% of the risk of a heart attack for the non-aspirin group.
• D)Any of the above could have been possible.