Improving the Utility of Population Impact Measures

We are delighted to see use and development of a population impactmeasure (PIM), the Number of Events Prevented in your Population (NEPP),in the recent paper by Chamnan et al (2010). This metric, originallydeveloped by Heller et al1, offers policy-makers useful estimations ofimpact at a population level, by producing absolute measures of effect.Previous use of the NEPP includes estimation of the impact of anintervention in populations with a specific condition, of the incrementalbenefit of moving from current to best practice and disease prevention2-5,and of cost-effectiveness2;6.