Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34488887›Full record

Trial reportArthritis research & therapy2021

Accuracy and usability of a diagnostic decision support system in the diagnosis of three representative rheumatic diseases: a randomized controlled trial among medical students.

Johannes Knitza, Koray Tascilar, Eva Gruber, Hannah Kaletta, Melanie Hagen, Anna-Maria Liphardt, Hannah Schenker, Martin Krusche, Jochen Wacker, Arnd Kleyer and 4 more

Open access · goldAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in Arthritis research & therapy, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
23citing papers in PubMed
6.1field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
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

23 citing papers in PubMed, 39 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

14 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.

Johannes KnitzaDepartment of Internal Medicine 3 - Rheumatology and Immunology, Friedrich-Alexander University (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Ulmenweg 18, 91054, Erlangen, Germany.
Koray TascilarDepartment of Internal Medicine 3 - Rheumatology and Immunology, Friedrich-Alexander University (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Ulmenweg 18, 91054, Erlangen, Germany.
Eva GruberDepartment of Internal Medicine 3 - Rheumatology and Immunology, Friedrich-Alexander University (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Ulmenweg 18, 91054, Erlangen, Germany.
Hannah KalettaDepartment of Internal Medicine 3 - Rheumatology and Immunology, Friedrich-Alexander University (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Ulmenweg 18, 91054, Erlangen, Germany.
Melanie HagenDepartment of Internal Medicine 3 - Rheumatology and Immunology, Friedrich-Alexander University (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Ulmenweg 18, 91054, Erlangen, Germany.
Anna-Maria LiphardtDepartment of Internal Medicine 3 - Rheumatology and Immunology, Friedrich-Alexander University (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Ulmenweg 18, 91054, Erlangen, Germany.
Hannah SchenkerDepartment of Internal Medicine 3 - Rheumatology and Immunology, Friedrich-Alexander University (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Ulmenweg 18, 91054, Erlangen, Germany.
Martin KruscheMedical Department, Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Jochen WackerDepartment of Internal Medicine 3 - Rheumatology and Immunology, Friedrich-Alexander University (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Ulmenweg 18, 91054, Erlangen, Germany.
Arnd KleyerDepartment of Internal Medicine 3 - Rheumatology and Immunology, Friedrich-Alexander University (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Ulmenweg 18, 91054, Erlangen, Germany.
David SimonDepartment of Internal Medicine 3 - Rheumatology and Immunology, Friedrich-Alexander University (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Ulmenweg 18, 91054, Erlangen, Germany.
Nicolas VuillermeAGEIS, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France.
Georg SchettDepartment of Internal Medicine 3 - Rheumatology and Immunology, Friedrich-Alexander University (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Ulmenweg 18, 91054, Erlangen, Germany.
Axel J HueberDepartment of Internal Medicine 3 - Rheumatology and Immunology, Friedrich-Alexander University (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Ulmenweg 18, 91054, Erlangen, Germany. axel.hueber@fau.de.
Universitätsklinikum Erlangen · DEFriedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg · DECharité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin · DEOrange (France) · FR

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAn increasing number of diagnostic decision support systems (DDSS) exist to support patients and physicians in establishing the correct diagnosis as early as possible. However, little evidence exists that supports the effectiveness of these DDSS. The objectives were to compare the diagnostic accuracy of medical students, with and without the use of a DDSS, and the diagnostic accuracy of the DDSS system itself, regarding the typical rheumatic diseases and to analyze the user experience.

methodsA total of 102 medical students were openly recruited from a university hospital and randomized (unblinded) to a control group (CG) and an intervention group (IG) that used a DDSS (Ada - Your Health Guide) to create an ordered diagnostic hypotheses list for three rheumatic case vignettes. Diagnostic accuracy, measured as the presence of the correct diagnosis first or at all on the hypothesis list, was the main outcome measure and evaluated for CG, IG, and DDSS.

resultsThe correct diagnosis was ranked first (or was present at all) in CG, IG, and DDSS in 37% (40%), 47% (55%), and 29% (43%) for the first case; 87% (94%), 84% (100%), and 51% (98%) in the second case; and 35% (59%), 20% (51%), and 4% (51%) in the third case, respectively. No significant benefit of using the DDDS could be observed. In a substantial number of situations, the mean probabilities reported by the DDSS for incorrect diagnoses were actually higher than for correct diagnoses, and students accepted false DDSS diagnostic suggestions. DDSS symptom entry greatly varied and was often incomplete or false. No significant correlation between the number of symptoms extracted and diagnostic accuracy was seen. It took on average 7 min longer to solve a case using the DDSS. In IG, 61% of students compared to 90% in CG stated that they could imagine using the DDSS in their future clinical work life.

conclusionsThe diagnostic accuracy of medical students was superior to the DDSS, and its usage did not significantly improve students' diagnostic accuracy. DDSS usage was time-consuming and may be misleading due to prompting wrong diagnoses and probabilities.

trial registrationDRKS.de, DRKS00024433 . Retrospectively registered on February 5, 2021.

Indexed as

PhysiciansRheumatic DiseasesStudents, MedicalHumansAccuracyAppsClinical decision support systemDiagnosiseHealth

Identifiers

PMID34488887
PMCPMC8420018
OpenAlexW3198273808

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Registered trials

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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.