(Ebook) Evidence-Based Diagnosis: An Introduction to Clinical Epidemiology by Thomas B. Newman, Michael A. Kohn ISBN 9781108500111, 1108500110

(Ebook) Evidence-Based Diagnosis: An Introduction to Clinical Epidemiology by Thomas B. Newman, Michael A. Kohn ISBN 9781108500111, 1108500110

This is a book about diagnostic testing. It is aimed primarily at clinicians, particularly thosewho are academically minded, but it should be helpful and accessible to anyone involvedwith selection, development, or marketing of diagnostic, screening, or prognostic tests.Although we admit to a love of mathematics, we have restrained ourselves and kept themath to a minimum – a little simple algebra and only three Greek letters,
(kappa), (alpha), and  (beta). Nonetheless, quantitative discussions in this book go deeper and aremore rigorous than those typically found in introductory clinical epidemiology or evidencebasedmedicine texts.Our perspective is that of skeptical consumers of tests. We want to make properdiagnoses and not miss treatable diseases. Yet, we are aware that vast resources are spenton tests that too frequently provide wrong answers or right answers of little value, and thatnew tests are being developed, marketed, and sold all the time, sometimes with little or nodemonstrable or projected benefit to patients. This book is intended to provide readers withthe tools they need to evaluate these tests, to decide if and when they are worth doing, and tointerpret the results.The pedagogical approach comes from years of teaching this material to physicians,mostly fellows and junior faculty in a clinical research training program. We have foundthat many doctors, including the two of us, can be impatient when it comes to classroomlearning. We like to be shown that the material is important and that it will help us takebetter care of our patients, understand the literature, and/or improve our research. For thisreason, in this book we emphasize real-life examples.Although this is primarily a book about diagnosis, two of the twelve chapters are aboutevaluating treatments – using both randomized trials (Chapter 8) and observational studies(Chapter 9).