Letter

Simple presentation of test accuracy may lead to inflated disease probabilities

BMJ 2003; 326 doi: 10.1136/bmj.326.7385.393/a (Published 15 February 2003)
Cite this as: BMJ 2003;326:393.2

Access to the full text of this article requires a subscription or payment. Please log in or subscribe below.

  1. Lucas M Bachmann (lucas.bachmann@evimed.ch), research fellow,
  2. Johann Steurer, director,
  3. Gerben ter Riet, senior research fellow
  1. Horten Centre, Zurich University, PO Box Nord, CH-8091 Zurich, Switzerland
  2. Department of General Practice, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Room J3-354, Meibergdreef 15, NL-1105 AZ Amsterdam, Netherlands

    EDITOR—We found that conveying information on the accuracy of tests in non-technical language improved doctors' ability to estimate disease probabilities accurately.1 We investigated whether doctors might misuse such non-technical presentation when considering the probability of endometrial cancer in a patient with positive results on transvaginal ultrasonography.

    View this table:
    • In this window
    • In a new window

    Distributions of attributed likelihood ratios in three groups given different summaries of information on diagnostic accuracy

    We presented 263 general practitioners in Switzerland with a pre-test probability of 10%, information that …

    Access to the full text of this article requires a subscription or payment

    Subscribe

    Article access

    Article access for 1 day

    Purchase this article for £20 $30 €32*

    The PDF version can be downloaded as your personal record

    * Prices do not include VAT

    Rapid responses

    THIS WEEK'S POLL

    BMJ most popular