ArticleBMC medical informatics and decision making2013
The influence of medical testing on patients' health: an overview from the gynecologists' perspective.
Article in BMC medical informatics and decision making, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Predicting developmental outcomes in premature infants by term equivalent MRI: systematic review and meta-analysis.Systematic reviews · 2015Pooled it
- The Acceptability of Diagnostic Tests in the United Kingdom.Patient preference and adherence · 2025Article
- Patient-centred outcomes of imaging tests: recommendations for patients, clinicians and researchers.BMJ quality & safety · 2023Article
- Prenatal electrocardiogram testing and postpartum depression: A population-based cohort study.Obstetric medicine · 2022Article
- Article
- Women's perspectives of the fetal fibronectin testing process: a qualitative descriptive study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2014Article
- Provider Perspectives of Patient Experiences in Primary Care Imaging.Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine : JABFMArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundA medical tests may influence the health of patients by guiding clinical decisions, such as treatment in case of a positive test result. However, a medical test can influence the health of patients through other mechanisms as well, like giving reassurance. To make a clinical recommendation about a medical test, we should be aware of the full range of effects of that test on patients. This requires an understanding of the range of effects that medical testing can have on patients. This study evaluates the mechanisms through which medical testing can influence patients' health, other than the effect on clinical management, from a gynecologist's perspective.
methodsA qualitative study in which explorative focus groups were conducted with gynecologists, gynecological residents and gynecological M.D. researchers (n = 43). Discussions were transcribed verbatim. Transcriptions were coded inductively and analyzed by three researchers.
resultsAll participants contributed various clinical examples in which medical testing had influenced patients' health. Clinical examples illustrated that testing, in itself or in interaction with contextual factors, may provoke a wide range of effects on patients. Our data showed that testing can influence the doctor's perceptions of the patients' appraisal of their illness, their perceived control, or the doctor-patient relationship. This may lead to changes in psychological, behavioral, and/or medical outcomes, both favorably or unfavorably. The data were used to construct a conceptual framework of effects of medical testing on patients.
conclusionsBesides supporting clinical decision making, medical testing may have favorable or unfavorable effects on patients' health though several mechanisms.
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Registered trials
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.