The Sensitivity and Specificity of Clinical Diagnostics During Five Decades: Toward an Understanding of Necessary Fallibility

JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association

Volumn 261, Issue 11, 1989, Pages 1610-1617

  Anderson, Robert E ^a   Hill, Rolla B ^a   Key, Charles R ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ACUTE HEART INFARCTION; AUTOPSY; BILE DUCT CARCINOMA; DIAGNOSIS; HUMAN; LEUKEMIA; LIVER CIRRHOSIS; LUNG CARCINOMA; LUNG EMBOLISM; LUNG TUBERCULOSIS; PEPTIC ULCER; PERITONITIS; PRIORITY JOURNAL; REVIEW; RHEUMATIC HEART DISEASE; STOMACH CARCINOMA; STOMACH ULCER;

AUTOPSY; DIAGNOSTIC ERRORS; HUMAN; SENSITIVITY AND SPECIFICITY; SUPPORT, NON-U.S. GOV'T; SUPPORT, U.S. GOV'T, NON-P.H.S.; TIME FACTORS;

EID: 0024513335     PISSN: 00987484     EISSN: 15383598     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1001/jama.1989.03420110086029     Document Type: Article

References (35)

1. Goldman L, Sayson R, Robbins S, Conn LH, Bettman M, Weisberg M. The value of the autopsy in three medical eras. N Engl J Med. 1983;308: 1000-1005.
2. Goldman L. Diagnostic advances versus the value of the autopsy: 1912-1980. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 1984;108:501-505.
3. Anderson RE. The autopsy as an instrument of quality assessment: classification of premortem and postmortem diagnostic discrepancies. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 1984;108:490-493.
4. Britton M. Diagnostic errors discovered at autopsy. Acta Med Scand. 1974;196:203-210.
5. Britton M. Clinical diagnostics: experience from 383 autopsied cases. Acta Med Scand. 1974;196: 211-219.
6. Battle RM, Pathak D, Humble CG, et al. Factors influencing discrepancies between premortem and postmortem diagnoses. JAMA. 1987;258:339-344.
7. Zarling EJ, Sexton H, Milnor P. Failure to diagnose acute myocardial infarction: the clinicopathologic experience at a large community hospital. JAMA. 1983;250:1177-1181.
8. Gorovitz S, MacIntyre A. Toward a theory of medical fallibility. In: Engelhardt HT Jr, Callahan D, eds. The Foundations of Ethics and Its Relationship to Science. Hastings-on-Hudson, NY: The Hastings Center; 1976:1:248-274.
9. Galen RS, Gambino SR. Beyond Normality: The Predictive Value and Efficiency of Medical Diagnoses. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons Inc; 1975.
10. Lundberg GD, Voigt GE. Reliability of a presumptive diagnosis in sudden unexpected death in adults: the case for the autopsy. JAMA. 1979;242: 2328-2330.
11. Silverstein M, Gambino SR. How good should a lab test be? Lab Med Pract Physician. 1978;1:17-21.
12. Pohlen K, Emerson H. Errors in clinical statements of causes of death. Am J Public Health. 1942;32:251-260.
13. Pohlen K, Emerson H. Errors in clinical statements of causes of death: second report. Am J Public Health. 1943;33:505-516.
14. Munck W. Autopsy finding and clinical diagnosis: a comparative study of 1000 cases. Acta Med Scand. 1952;266(suppl):775-781.
15. Heasman MA, Lipworth I. Accuracy of Certification of Cause of Death: Studies on Medical and Population Subject No. 20. London, England: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office; 1966.
16. Cameron HM, McGoogan E. A prospective study of 1,152 hospital autopsies, I: inaccuracies in death certification. J Pathol. 1981;133:273-283.
17. Wallgren I. Postmortem findings compared with clinical diagnosis. Nord Med. 1945;26:1311-1316.
18. Sandritter W, Staeudinger M, Drexler H. Autopsy and clinical diagnosis. Pathol Res Pract. 1980;168:107-114.
19. Cechner RL, Chamberlain W, Carter JR, Milojkovic-Mirceta L, Nash NP. Misdiagnosis of bronchogenic carcinoma: the role of cigarette smoking, surveillance bias, and other factors. Cancer. 1980;46:190-199.
20. Modan B, Sharon E, Jelin N. Factors contributing to the incorrect diagnosis of pulmonary embolic disease. Chest. 1972;62:388-393.
21. Edlin GP. Active tuberculosis unrecognized until necropsy. Lancet. 1978;1:650-652.
22. Bobrowitz ID. Active tuberculosis undiagnosed until autopsy. Am J Med. 1982;72:650-658.
23. Linell F, Ostberg G. Tuberculosis in autopsy material, with special reference to cases not discovered until necropsy. Scand J Respir Dis. 1966;47:200-208.
24. Sherlock S. Diseases of the Liver and Biliary System. 2nd ed. Oxford, England: Basil Blackwell Publisher; 1959.
25. Constam C: Ueber Laennecsche Lebercirrhose; klinische Auswertung von 160 autoptisch bestatigten Lebercirrhosen der Medizinischen Universitats-Klinik Zurich aus den Jahren 1937-40. Helv Med Acta. 1943;10:507-544.
26. Riva G, Weiner DN. On the etiology of liver cirrhosis: statistical survey of 331 cases of liver cirrhosis verified at autopsy. Bull Schweiz Akad Med Wiss. 1960;16:65-77.
27. Hallen J, Norden J. Liver cirrhosis unsuspected during life: a series of 79 cases. J Chronic Dis. 1964;17:951-958.
28. Hill RB, Anderson RE. The Autopsy: Medical Practice and Public Policy. Stoneham, Mass: Butterworth Publishers Inc; 1988.
29. McFarlane MJ, Feinstein AR, Wells CK, Chan CK. The ’epidemiologic necropsy.’ JAMA. 1987; 258:331-338.
30. Schwartz WB, Wolfe HJ, Pauker SG. Pathology and probabilities: a new approach to interpreting and reporting biopsies. N Engl J Med. 1981;305:917-923.
31. Ransohoff DF, Feinstein AR. Problems of spectrum and bias in evaluating the efficacy of diagnostic tests. N Engl J Med. 1978;299:926-929.
32. Feinstein AR, Niebyl JR. Changes in the diagnostic process during 40 years of clinicopathologic conferences. Arch Intern Med. 1971;128:774-780.
33. Landefeld CS, Chren MM, Myers A, Geller R, Robbins S, Goldman L. Diagnostic yield of the autopsy in a university hospital and a community hospital. N Engl J Med. 1988;318:1249-1254.
34. Cabot RC. Diagnostic pitfalls identified during a study of three thousand autopsies. JAMA. 1912;59:2295-2298.
35. Gruver RH, Freis ED. A study of diagnostic errors. Ann Intern Med. 1957;47:108-120.