Linked Life Data

11953699

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/11953699

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
3
pubmed:dateCreated
2002-4-15
pubmed:abstractText
A medical history serves to record the patient's complaints and translate them into clear-cut, medically defined symptoms. A poorly defined symptom loses most of its discriminative power as a diagnostic test for a medical work-up. If physicians are uncertain about the exact meaning of a symptom, they have to account for the possibility of multiple competing interpretations for the identical set of complaints. Multiple possible interpretations of a single symptom diminish its value as a diagnostic test and result in test degeneracy. A modified Bayes' formula is used to quantify the influence of test degeneracy on post-test probability. The physician needs to help his patients to phrase their complaints in a fashion that limits the number of possible interpretations. A poor medical history diminishes the opportunity to establish a diagnostic suspicion with a high probability early on. The subsequent medical work-up has to rely on many more tests to confirm the presence of a diagnosis. The poor medical history exposes the patient, therefore, to more test-related risks, and prolongs the diagnostic process. All these downsides of a poor history ultimately increase medical resource utilization and healthcare expenditures.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Mar
pubmed:issn
0954-691X
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
14
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
317-21
pubmed:dateRevised
2009-10-16
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2002
pubmed:articleTitle
Translating vague complaints into precise symptoms: the implications of a poor medical history.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Albuquerque, NM 87107, USA. sonnbrg@unm.edu
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.