Table 4:
Effectiveness of Antibiotics. NNT = number needed to treat. Based on the study by Ben Simon et al., assumptions were made about the percentage of patients that received antibiotics (far left column). If, for example, 90% of patients received antibiotics, the NNT was 75, and there were 1105 cases of preventable infection in the United States. If, however, only 60% of patients received antibiotics, antibiotics were actually harmful, and the Number Needed to Harm (NNH) was 198, with antibiotics causing an additional 414 infections per year.
| % Given Atbx |
NTT |
Preventable Infections in US |
| 90% |
75 |
1105 |
| 80% |
398 |
207 |
| 75% |
0 |
0 |
| 60% |
-198 |
-414 |