Year: 2004
Type: article
Abstract: The emphasis on the evidence base of treatments may diminish awareness that critical appraisal of research into other aspects of psychiatric practice is equally important. There is a risk that diagnostic tests may be inappropriate in some clinical settings or the results of a particular test may be over-interpreted, leading to incorrect diagnosis. This article outlines the method of critically evaluating the validity of articles about diagnostic and screening tests in psychiatry and discusses concepts of sensitivity, specificity and predictive values. The use of likelihood ratios in improving clinical certainty that a disease is present or absent is examined.
DOI: 10.1192/apt.10.6.446
Author: James Warner
Institution: Imperial College London
Language: English
Subfield: Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty
Field: Decision Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2000404517