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Articles on Diagnostic Tests: A New Series and an Invitation to Authors
- Alan M. Garber, MD, PhD;
- Cynthia Mulrow, MD, MPH, Deputy Editor; and
- Harold C. Sox, MD, Editor
Advances in diagnostic testing have been among the most significant medical innovations of recent years (1), but they have not simplified the choice of diagnostic strategies. With the proliferation of better diagnostic tests, whether they are imaging studies, genetic tests, biochemical markers, or immunologic assays, decisions have grown more complex. The diversity of treatment options further complicates deciding among the choices of obtaining more diagnostic information, treating, or simply watchful waiting. We must think not only about the best test for a given patient but also about the best sequence of tests and the preferred management strategy that should follow testing. The need for a well-reasoned and evidence-based approach to the choice of efficient diagnostic strategies has never been greater.
With the publication of the article by Barr and colleagues on tests of glycemia (2), this issue inaugurates a series of articles on the selection and interpretation of common diagnostic tests. These articles bring to contemporary tests the rigorous and critical approach that characterized Common Diagnostic Tests: Use and Interpretation, a series of articles published in Annals in the late 1980s (3). Each article showed how to use the sensitivity and specificity of …
