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retort
pick up the line
May 20, 2010 20:33
13 yrs ago
6 viewers *
English term

more days than not

English Medical Other
"A rating of 3 is given if the patient has been clearly restless or hyperactive more days than not."

Well, the patient has been observed for two days only. How amny days is this, or haw long is "more days than not"???

thank you for your help
Responses
3 +3 See explanation
References
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

Discussion

Jutta Scherer May 20, 2010:
Most of the time I understand your confusion. This might simply be an unfortunate choice of words. Or perhaps this is a basic rule (given before) that has been observed, but in the present case the patient happens to have been watched for 2 days only.
In any case, I assume it to mean "the patient has been restless most of the time (= more than 50 percent of the time)"

Responses

+3
7 mins
Selected

See explanation

I think you might be confusing the “3” with the number of days. The “3” is the rating, not the number of days.

The patient gets a rating of 3 if he has been restless for more days than he has NOT been restless. Your sentence does not specify any concrete number of days.
Note from asker:
I am working on a text which deals with rating different symptoms in "the last 2 days"; the number of days is 2, and rating is from 0 to 4. Does "more days than not" means here more than half of the time? (as Tony and Isabel suggest). I am a little bit confused by this idiom in a context of so few days :)
Peer comment(s):
agree Tony M : restless > 50% of the time (in number of days)
17 mins
Thanks, Tony.
agree marybro
23 mins
Gracias, marybro
neutral Isabel Severing : 3 indeed is the rating, and yes, more than 50%, but how do you determine this if there's only 2 days to go by?
29 mins
agree British Diana : I suppose the patient was restless more than 50% of the time during the two days period. It is obviously a loose use of the terminology Stephanie has provided.
11 hrs
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you and thanks to all contributors. Special thanks to Ms Scherer"

Reference comments

5 hrs
Reference:

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

The choice of words, in your text, may be related the following:

"According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, a person must have at least three of the following symptoms, with some being present more days than not for at least six months, in order to be diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder:
restlessness or feeling on edge
being easily fatigued
difficulty concentrating
irritability
muscle tension
sleep disturbance
While generalized anxiety disorder is not completely debilitating, it can compromise a person's effectiveness and quality of life."

http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/generalized ...
Peer comments on this reference comment:
agree John Detre : I think this explains it.
11 hrs
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