What is the Role of Confidence Intervals in Toxicological Data Interpretation?
Confidence intervals provide a range of values within which the true parameter value is expected to lie, with a certain level of confidence (usually 95%). They offer more information than point estimates alone, indicating the precision and reliability of the estimates. Confidence intervals are particularly useful in toxicology for:
Assessing the uncertainty in estimates of toxicological parameters, such as NOAEL and LOAEL. Comparing the toxicity of different substances by examining the overlap of their confidence intervals. Making informed decisions about the safety and risk of chemicals based on the range of plausible effect sizes.
