Q2 Final

Q2 Final

by Nicholas Arger -

I am confused as to question 2 c:

As mentioned above, the cases and controls in this study were adolescent ED patients with symptoms suggestive or PE who had both a D-Dimer level obtained and a CTPA.

Assume the emergency physicians treating the adolescent patients in this study followed diagnostic protocols similar to those described in the question stem.  What bias would this cause?  How would it affect the sensitivity and specificity reported above?


I am confused as to what is referred to as the "question stem". Is it supposed to read "with symptoms suggestive of PE"? I am confused what protocols are being referred to.


Thanks

Re: Q2 Final

by Ryan McMahan -

Yes, there is a typo in the part above question 2c -- you are correct that it should read: 

"...the cases and controls in this study were adolescent ED patients with symptoms suggestive of PE ..."

As for what is meant by the "question stem" -- that would refer to the general description of how the study used the d-dimer and CTPA tests. I would suggest reading from "For this reason, ... " through the description of the Sharaf study.