Evidence map›Paper›PMID 20883623›Full record

ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2010

Diagnostic classification in patients with suspected deep venous thrombosis: physicians' judgement or a decision rule?

Geert-Jan Geersing, Kristel J Janssen, Ruud Oudega, Henk van Weert, Henri Stoffers, Arno Hoes, Karel Moons, AMUSE Study Group

Abstract readComparative Study
In one paragraph

Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
14citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Review
  3. Review
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  12. Deep venous thrombosis.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2011
    Article
  13. Diagnostic classification in patients with deep venous thrombosis.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2011
    Article
  14. A Machine Learning Approach to Predict Deep Venous Thrombosis Among Hospitalized Patients.Clinical and applied thrombosis/hemostasis : official journal of the International Academy of Clinical and Applied Thrombosis/Hemostasis
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Geert-Jan GeersingJulius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands. g.j.geersing@umcutrecht.nl
Kristel J Janssen
Ruud Oudega
Henk van Weert
Henri Stoffers
Arno Hoes
Karel Moons
AMUSE Study Group

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundClinical decision rules can aid in referral decisions for ultrasonography in patients suspected of having deep venous thrombosis (DVT), but physicians are not always convinced of their usefulness and rely on their own judgement.

aimTo compare the performance of a clinical decision rule with the probability of DVT presence as estimated by GPs. DESIGN OF STUDY: Cross-sectional survey.

settingPrimary care practices in The Netherlands.

methodGPs (n = 300) estimated the probability of the presence of DVT (range 0-100%) and calculated the score for the clinical decision rule in 1028 consecutive patients with suspected DVT. The clinical decision rule uses a threshold of three points and so, for the GP estimates, thresholds were introduced at 10% and 20%. If scores were below these estimates, it was not considered necessary to refer patients for further examination. Differences between the clinical decision rule and the GP estimates were calculated; this is discrimination (c-statistic) and classification of patients.

resultsData of 1002 patients were eligible for analysis. DVT was observed in 136 (14%) patients. Both the clinical decision rule and GP estimates had good discriminative power (c-statistic of 0.80 and 0.82 respectively). Fewer patients were referred when using the clinical decision rule compared with a referral decision based on GP estimates: 51% versus 79% and 65% (thresholds at 10% and 20% respectively). Both strategies missed a similar and low proportion of patients who did have DVT (range 1.4-2.0%).

conclusionIn patients suspected of DVT both GP estimates and a clinical decision rule can safely discriminate in patients with and without DVT. However, fewer patients are referred for ultrasonography when GPs rely on a clinical decision rule to guide their decision making.

Indexed as

Decision Support TechniquesClinical CompetenceCross-Sectional StudiesFamily PracticeFemaleHumansMaleMedical History TakingMiddle AgedNetherlandsProfessional PracticeReferral and ConsultationUltrasonographyVenous Thrombosis

Identifiers

PMID20883623
PMCPMC2944933

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.