Understanding Risk

PreViser risk scores add the ‘third dimension’ to an understanding of patient needs, by differentiating between patients who present with the same current health/disease state, but who are have varying probabilities of this state deteriorating.

All patients with severe disease today were at one time healthy and disease free. Using PreViser risk scores as an essential element in treatment planning can help keep these patients healthy.

What is risk in healthcare terms?

Risk is the likelihood of developing a particular disease over a given period of time and depends on possession of and/or exposure to risk factors.

Risk factors are factors that increase the likelihood of a disease developing in a given individual and which are biologically part of the causative pathway. Some risk factors are modifiable (e.g. smoking, oral hygiene, diet) and others are not modifiable (e.g. genetics).

Eliminating or reducing risk factors helps lower the likelihood of a disease developing and where risk factors cannot be eliminated (e.g. genetics), intense preventive programs including regular recall and supportative care can improve clinical outcomes.

But I know it all already!

A study, Assessing periodontal disease risk: A comparison of clinicians’ assessment versus a computerized tool. Persson, G.R., et al. Journal of the American Dental Association 2003, demonstrated a very large inter-evaluator variation between 52 clinicians evaluating risk in the same patients. It concluded that assessment of risk by subjective judgment appears to be too variable and inaccurate to be useful in clinical decision making.