# Odds Ratios: Do most people get them wrong?

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/normal-curves-sexy-science-serious-statistics-7212156/odds-ratios-do-most-people-get-them-wrong
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/normal-curves-sexy-science-serious-statistics-7212156/odds-ratios-do-most-people-get-them-wrong.md
Podcast: [Normal Curves: Sexy Science, Serious Statistics](https://stenobird.com/podcast/normal-curves-sexy-science-serious-statistics-7212156)
Published: 2026-06-01T11:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.normalcurves.com/odds-ratios-do-most-people-get-them-wrong/
Audio file: https://op3.dev/e/media.transistor.fm/d9bec4bf/0ca563d4.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/normal-curves-sexy-science-serious-statistics-7212156/episodes/odds-ratios-do-most-people-get-them-wrong
Duration seconds: 3232

## Resource

Odds ratios show up everywhere in medical research—but do readers, journalists, and even researchers always know what they mean? In this episode, we tackle one of the most common statistical misunderstandings in science: treating odds ratios like risk ratios. Along the way, we explore puppy photos, fish photos, first-date hookups, sugary drinks, cardiac care, and a listener challenge that started with an informal study of five medical residents and a box of chocolate truffles. We explain why logistic regression produces odds ratios, when odds ratios can wildly exaggerate effects, and why some famous headlines turned out to be much less dramatic than they sounded. Statistical topics binary outcomes case-control studies logistic regression odds ratios risk ratios odds vs risk Methodological morals “Just because logistic regression gives you an odds ratio does not mean you have to report it.” “A lot of bad science communication starts long before the journalist even enters the story.” References Bleich SN, Herring BJ, Flagg DD, et al. Reduction in purchases of sugar-sweetened beverages among low-income Black adolescents after exposure to caloric information . Am J Public Health . 2012;102:329–35. Sainani KL. How Statistics Can Mislead . Am J Public Health . 2012. 2012;102:e3–e4. Bleich SN, Herring BJ, Flagg DD, et al. Bleich et al. respond . Am J Public Health . 2012;102:e4. Press video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFyrqbf1XWs Sainani KL, Schmajuk G, Liu V. A Caution on Interpreting Odds Ratios . Sleep . 2009;32:976. Schulman KA, Berlin JA, Harless W, et al. The Effect of Race and Sex on Physicians' Recommendations for Cardiac Catheterization . NEJM . 1999;340:618–26. Schwartz LM, Woloshin S, Welch HG. Misunderstandings about the Effects of Race and Sex on Physicians'…

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/normal-curves-sexy-science-serious-statistics-7212156/episodes/odds-ratios-do-most-people-get-them-wrong/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/normal-curves-sexy-science-serious-statistics-7212156/odds-ratios-do-most-people-get-them-wrong.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.