231
Views
14
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Original Article

The spectrum of patients strongly influences the usefulness of diagnostic tests for pneumonia

&
Pages 241-246 | Received 01 Sep 1992, Accepted 01 Jan 1993, Published online: 12 Jul 2009

References

  • Ransohoff D F, Feinstein A R. Problems of spectrum and bias in evaluating the efficacy of diagnostic tests. N Eng J Med 1978; 299: 926–30
  • Begg C B. Biases in the assessment of diagnostic tests. Statistics in Medicine 1987; 6: 411–23
  • Feinstein A R. Clinical epidemiology. The architecture of clinical research. JB Saunders Company, Philadelphia 1985; 613–8
  • Hlatky M A, Pryor D B, Harrell F E, Jr, Califf R M, Mark D B, Rosati R A. Factors affecting the sensitivity and specificity of the exercise electrocardiogram: a multivariable analysis. Am J Med 1984; 77: 64–71
  • Rozanski A, Diamond G A, Berman D, Forrester J S, Morris D, Swan H JC. The declining specificity of exercise radionuclide ventriculography. N Eng J Med 1983; 309: 518–22
  • Harris J M. The Hazards of bedside Bayes. JAMA 1981; 246: 2602–5
  • Lachs M S, Nachamkin I, Edelstein P H, Goldman J, Feinstein A R, Schwartz J S. Spectrum bias in the evaluation of the rapid dipstick test for urinary tract infection. Ann Intern Med 1992; 117: 135–40
  • Melbye H, Straume B, Aasebø U, Brox J. The diagnosis of adult pneumonia in general practice. Scand J Prim Health Care 1988; 6: 111–7
  • Diehr P, Wood R W, Bushyhead J, Krueger L, Wolcott B, Tompkins R K. Prediction of pneumonia in out-patients with acute cough: a statistical approach. J Chronic Dis 1984; 37: 215–25
  • Melbye H, Straume B, Aaseba U, Dale K. Diagnosis of pneumonia in adults in general practice. Relative importance of typical symptoms and abnormal chest signs evaluated against a radiographic reference standard. Scand J Prim Health Care 1992; 10: 226–33
  • Melbye H, Straume B, Brox J. Laboratory tests for pneumonia in general practice: the diagnostic values depend on the duration of illness. Scand J Prim Health Care 1992; 10: 234–40
  • Sacket D L, Haynes R B, Tugwell P. Clinical epidemiology. A basic science for clinical medicine. Little, Brown and Co., Boston 1985
  • Beck J R, Shultz E K. The use of Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves in test performance evaluation. Arch Pathol Lab Med 1986; 110: 13–20
  • Ruuskanen O, Putto A, Sarkkinen H, Meurman O, Irjala K. C-reactive protein in respiratory virus infection. J Pediatr 1985; 107: 97–100
  • Melbye H, Dale K. Interobserver variability in the radiographic diagnosis of adult outpatient pneumonia. Acta Radiol 1992; 33: 79–81
  • Stein M T. Delayed roentgenographic signs associated with acute pneumonia in children. J Fam Pract 1981; 12: 639–44
  • Melbye H, Berdal B P, Straume B, Russell H, Vorland L, Thacker W L. Pneumonia, a clinical or radiographic diagnosis? Etiology and clinical features of lower respiratory tract infections in adults in general practice. Scand J Infect Dis 1992; 24: 647–55
  • Heckerling P S, Tape T G, Wigton R S, Hissong K K, Leikin J B, Ornato J P, et al. Clinical prediction rule for pulmonary infiltrates. Ann Intern Med 1990; 113: 664–70
  • Singal B M, Hedges J R, Radack K L. Decision rules and clinical prediction of pneumonia: evaluation of low-yield criteria. Ann Emerg Med 1989; 18: 13–20
  • Feinstein A R. The inadequacy of binary models for the clinical reality of three-zone diagnostic decisions. J Clin Epidemiol 1990; 43: 109–13

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.