Repercussions continue from the recent removal of the antidiabetic drug rosiglitazone from the European Union market.1 Whether this treatment's protracted, unwelcome presence resulted from regulatory failure, differential interpretation of the relevant data or wishful thinking by clinicians is debatable. But deep in this story lies a flawed fascination with numbers. Ever since publication of the United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) in 1998, it …