Symbols to Know










When available, information about how well a treatment works is shown with 100 faces. If 100 people were to take a treatment, the number of green smiley faces shows how many would achieve positive results. If there are two different shades of green, that is to show the range of efficacy. These results might vary by treatment, so there will always be an explanation alongside the faces. In the example here, 84 of the faces are dark green, 5 are light green, and 11 are black. If 100 people were to take this treatment, between 84 and 89 would experience positive results.










The same is done for possible serious side effects, when available. If 100 people were to take a treatment, the number of red frowning faces shows how many might experience a serious side effect. In the example here, 3 of the 100 faces are red and 97 are black. If 100 people were to take this treatment, 3 might experience a serious side effect.

The quality of evidence used to show results for each treatment has been rated with 4 stars (from high quality practice guidelines).

1 out of 4 stars = Very low level evidence.

2 out of 4 stars = Low level evidence.

3 out of 4 stars = Moderate level evidence.

4 out of 4 stars = High level evidence.