Please Read These Instructions
In this task, we would like you to think about different “states” that a patient may be in at different times after treatment.
A patient may be alive or dead. If a patient is alive, the patient may be alive and well, or alive but unwell.
A patient who is “alive and well” can carry out normal everyday activities such as walking up a hill, climbing stairs, lifting
and carrying objects without difficulty. A patient who is “alive but unwell” has great difficulty with these activities. These
patients will get out of breath when walking, and will need to stop frequently if they are climbing stairs.
The chart on the right is called a:
multi-state survival graph.
Treatment A
Alive and well
The size of the ‘gap’ between the two
curves shows you how many patients are
alive but unwell. For instance, 4 years
after the start of treatment slightly more
than 30 patients out of 100 are alive but
unwell (see arrow Z).
Here is the same graph.
This one uses colour and labels for the
sections between the curves.
Number of patients out of 100
The green line shows the number of
patients who are alive and well. For
instance, 3 years after the start of
treatment, 70 patients out of 100 are alive
and well (see arrow Y).
Alive
100
90
80
Z
70
60
50
X
40
Y
30
20
10
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Number of years from the start of treatment
Treatment A
Alive and well
Alive but unwell
Dead
100
Number of patients out of 100
The purple line is a survival curve. This
shows the number of patients who are
alive at different points of time. For
instance, 8 years after the start of
treatment, 80 patients out of 100 are alive
(see arrow X). Therefore, 20 patients out
of 100 have died during the first 8 years
of treatment.
90
Dead
80
70
60
Alive but unwell
50
40
30
20
Alive and well
10
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Number of years from the start of treatment
Here is another multi-state survival graph.
It shows information for a different
treatment.
Treatment B
Alive and well
Alive but unwell
Dead
The following pages include more graphs
like this.
You will be asked some questions about
them.
Please read the questions carefully so
that you know which chart to look at.
Number of patients out of 100
100
90
Dead
80
70
60
Alive but unwell
50
40
30
20
Alive and well
10
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Number of years from the start of treatment
8
9
10
Please Read These Instructions
In this task, we would like you to think about different “states” that a patient may be in at different times after treatment.
A patient may be alive or dead. If a patient is alive, the patient may be alive and well, or alive but unwell.
A patient who is “alive and well” can carry out normal everyday activities such as walking up a hill, climbing stairs, lifting
and carrying objects without difficulty. A patient who is “alive but unwell” has great difficulty with these activities. These
patients will get out of breath when walking, and will need to stop frequently if they are climbing stairs.
These charts show information about two
treatments. Treatment A is shown in
purple. Treatment B is shown in orange.
Treatment A
Treatment B
100
Number of patients alive out of 100
The first chart shows survival curves. This
shows the number of patients who are
alive at different points of time. For
instance, 8 years after the start of
treatment, 80 patients out of 100 are alive
with Treatment A (see arrow X).
Therefore, 20 patients out of 100 have
died during the first 8 years of treatment.
This chart shows the chance of beingalive over time
90
80
70
60
50
X
40
30
20
10
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
8
9
10
8
9
10
Number of years from the start of treatment
This chart shows the chance of beingalive and well over
Treatment A
Treatment B
100
Number of patients out of 100
The middle chart shows the number of
patients who are alive and well. For
instance, 3 years after the start of
treatment, 70 patients out of 100 are alive
and well with Treatment A (see arrow Y).
90
80
70
60
50
40
Y
30
20
10
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Number of years from the start of treatment
The following pages include more graphs
like these.
You will be asked some questions about
them.
Please read the questions carefully so
that you know which chart to look at.
This chart shows the chance of beingalive but
Treatment A
Treatment B
100
Number of patients out of 100
This third chart shows you how many
patients are alive but unwell. For
instance, 4 years after the start of
treatment slightly more than 30 patients
out of 100 are alive but unwell with
Treatment A (see arrow Z).
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
Z
10
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Number of years from the start of treatment