What Do Anesthesiologists Know about p Values, Confidence Intervals, and Correlations: A Pilot Survey

Abstract EN

Background.

Statistical methods form the basis for clinical decision-making in evidence-based anesthesia.

Data on the knowledge of anesthesiologists about statistics are lacking.

This pilot study aims to provide a first impression of the anesthesiologists’ understanding of commonly used concepts in statistics.

Methods.

A cross-sectional pilot survey was performed at a major international anesthesia conference.

The questionnaire consisted of three basic multiple-choice questions on the topics “p value,” “confidence interval,” and “correlation.” Results of the questions are reported as percentage of correct answers (95% confidence interval).

Results.

65 questionnaires were analyzed.

Forty participants were male, and mean age was 40 (standard deviation: 10) years.

The question addressing the p value was correctly answered by 15% (95% CI: 8 to 27%) of respondents.

The question concerning the 95% confidence interval was answered correctly by 28% (95% CI: 18 to 40%) of participants.

For the question about correlation, a correct answer was given by 52% (95% CI: 40 to 64%).

None of the participants answered all questions correctly, and 19 participants provided a wrong answer to all questions.

Conclusions.

Anesthesiologists seem to demonstrate a poor understanding of statistical key concepts.

Further studies are needed to address statistical knowledge gaps among anesthesiologists more comprehensively.