USING ELEMENTS OF DIAGNOSIS HEDGES

Is your clinical question a DIAGNOSIS question?

Incorporate elements of a diagnosis hedge into your search. By using combinations of subject headings, subheadings, and keywords, you will retrieve articles that report on the "sensitivity and specificity" and the validity of diagnostic tests.

Recommended Diagnosis Subject Headings

Sensitivity and Specificity
False Negative Reactions
False Positive Reactions
Predictive Value of tests
Diagnostic Errors
Diagnosis, Differential
Likelihood Functions

Recommended Diagnosis Subheadings (attach to subject)

diagnostic use (du)
diagnosis (di)

Recommended Diagnosis Keyword Searches Try entering these combinations on the "enter keyword" line:

  1. sensitivity.ti,ab,sh. or specificity.ti,ab,sh.
  2. (predictive value).ti,ab,sh.
  3. (false positive or false negative or predict$ or observer variation).ti,ab,sh.

The .ti,ab,sh. that you see above indicate that you are looking for these words in the titles (ti) , abstracts (ab), or subject headings (sh) of the articles. The $ indicates a wild card character or truncation.


DIAGNOSIS HEDGE EXAMPLE:

This strategy will find articles on diagnosing Alzheimer's disease that contain evidence-based information essential to selecting the best possible diagnostic strategy for a patient.

# Search History Results Comments
1 exp *alzheimer's disease/di 569 Notice the use of the /di (diagnosis) subheading
2 exp "sensitivity and specificity" 42899 We're now searching for the "sensitivity and specificity" subject heading
3 1 and 2 101 When we combine the results of sets #1 and #2, we find 101 articles on the diagnosis of Alzheimers Disease that also discuss the "sensitivity and specificity" of diagnostic tests.
4 (false positive or false negative or predict$ or observer variation).ti,ab,sh. 82227
5 1 and 4 125 When we combine the results of sets #1 (Alzheimers) and #4, we find 125 articles on the diagnosis of Alzheimers that include relevant keywords relating to false positives, false negatives, predictability, or observer variation.
6 Predictive value of tests 13795 Now we'll try searching for the subject heading "predictive value of tests".
7 1 and 6 44 When we combine the results of sets #1 (Alzheimers) and #6 (predictive value of tests), we find 44 articles.
8 Diagnostic errors 1856 Now we'll try searching for the subject heading "diagnostic errors".
9 1 and 8 3 When we combine the results of sets #1 (Alzheimers) and #8 (diagnostic errors), we find 3 articles that discuss diagnostic errors in diagnosing Alzheimers.

As you can see from the variety of approaches above, to find the best evidence you can pick and choose from among the most relevant recommended subject headings, subheadings, and keywords, then combine them with your disease term.

Let's move on to the PROGNOSIS hedge.