Users' Guides to the Medical Literature
Guyatt G, Rennie D, Meade MO, Cook DJ
Part D Diagnosis
Chapter 15. Differential Diagnosis
W. Scott Richardson, Mark C. Wilson, Thomas G. McGinn
Using the Guide—Part 7
Topics Discussed:
abnormal weight loss, diagnosis, differential, interpretation of results, posttest probability of disease
Excerpt:
"Earlier, we urged you to examine how the study patient sample
was selected from the target population to judge the sample's
representativeness and thus the validity of the results.
You should now reexamine the study sample to make a different judgment—its
applicability to your patients and your practice. Try asking this
question framed both ways (Are the study patients and clinical setting
similar enough to mine that I can use the evidence? Or,
are the patients and settings so different from mine that I should
disregard the results?) and compare your answers. For instance,
if patients who present with this problem in your practice come
from areas in which one of the underlying disorders is endemic,
the probability of that condition would be much higher
than its frequency found in a study done in a nonendemic area, limiting
the applicability of the study results to your practice...."
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