Diagnostic Research: theory and application

To set a diagnosis in a patient is one of the key challenges in medical practice and forms the basis for clinical care. Diagnosis is not an aim in itself but is relevant in as far as it directs treatment and indicates the prognosis of the patient. Diagnosis amounts to an estimation of the probability of the presence of a particular disease in view of all diagnostic information (patient history, physical examination and test results) in order to decide whether treatment should be initiated or not. A diagnosis is rarely based on one single variable or test and therefore is a multivariable concern per se. However, most diagnostic studies or studies in which diagnostic tests are evaluated still follow a univariable approach. This means that a diagnostic test is evaluated in isolation without explicit regard to the clinical context in which the test is applied. In this respect, clinical practice and diagnostic research frequently do not cohere. In applied medical research of the last decades, little attention has been paid to the principles of diagnostic studies compared to, for example, etiologic studies and studies of treatment efficacy.

• View at Worldcat

Free Full Text ( Final Version , 3mb )