Nomograms

Nomograms are graphical representations of equations that predict medical outcomes. Nomograms use a points-based system whereby a patient accumulates points based on levels of his or her risk factors. The cumulative points total is associated with a prediction, such as the predicted probability of treatment failure in the future. Nomograms can improve research design, and well-designed research is crucial for the creation of accurate nomograms. Nomograms are important to research design because they can help identify the characteristics of high-risk patients while highlighting which interventions are likely to have the greatest treatment effects. Nomograms have demonstrated better accuracy than both risk grouping systems and physician judgment. This improved accuracy should allow researchers to design intervention studies that have greater statistical power by targeting the enrollment ...