Interpreting the Medical Literature

by Gehlbach, Stephen H.

• ISBN13: 9780071387620
• ISBN10: 0071387625
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-05-09
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Medical

Summary

Provides health care professionals with a proven approach to reading and understanding research articles in medical journals. Filled with examples of current and classic medical studies, the Fourth Edition features new chapters on conflicting studies, literature and public policy, and interpreting drug trials.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Tasting an Articel	1	(12)
Reasons to Read	3	(2)
The Bones of an Articel	5	(3)
Approaching an Articel	8	(5)
Study Design: General Considerations	13	(18)
Descriptive Studies	14	(3)
Explanatory Studies	17	(9)
More Confusing Terminology	26	(3)
Summary	29	(2)
Study Design: The Case-Control Approach	31	(24)
Advantages of the Case-Control Design	32	(1)
Pronblesm of Case-Control Designs	33	(18)
Summary	51	(4)
Study Design: The Cross-Sectional and Follow-up Approaches	55	(24)
Cross-Sectional Designs	56	(13)
Follow-up Studies	69	(7)
Summary	76	(3)
Study Design: The Experimental Approach	79	(30)
Enrollment: Who Gets In	81	(7)
Allocation: Sorting Subjects & Controls	88	(8)
Follow-Up	96	(5)
Analysis	101	(4)
Summary	105	(4)
Study Design: Variations	109	(20)
Real-World Considerations	110	(3)
Practical Constraints	113	(10)
Ethical Concerns	123	(2)
Summary	125	(4)
Making Measurements	129	(16)
Reliability & Validity	130	(1)
Variability of the Unsystematic Sort	130	(3)
Systematic Error	133	(6)
Reducing Measurement Error	139	(4)
Summary	143	(2)
Analysis: Statistical Significance	145	(16)
Inference	146	(1)
Sampling Variability	147	(1)
The Null Hypothesis & Statistical Significance	148	(1)
Some Problems of Statistical Significance	149	(5)
Beta errors & Statistical Power	154	(3)
Confidence Intervals	157	(1)
Summary	158	(3)
Analysis: Some Statistical Tests	161	(16)
Tests for Categorical Data	163	(2)
Tests for Continuous Data	165	(3)
Correlation	168	(4)
Regressin	172	(3)
Summary	175	(2)
Interpretation: Sensitivity, Specificity, and Predictive Value	177	(26)
Prevalence	183	(3)
Making Choices	186	(1)
Likelihood Ratios	187	(5)
ROC Curves	192	(1)
Modeling	193	(3)
Spectrum	196	(1)
Standards	197	(2)
Summary	199	(4)
Interpretation: Risk	203	(22)
Expressing Statements of Risk	204	(8)
Risk Differences	212	(3)
Balancing Risks	215	(2)
Costs & Benefits	217	(5)
Summary	222	(3)
Interpretation: Causes	225	(20)
Confouding	226	(3)
Dealing with confounding	229	(6)
Making Associations into Causes	235	(7)
Summary	242	(3)
Case Series, Editionals, and Reviews	245	(22)
Case Series	246	(9)
Editorials & Letters to the Editor	255	(3)
Reviews	258	(6)
Summary	264	(3)
A Final Word	267	(12)
Clarity	268	(2)
Apologies, Tentative Conclusions, Self-Criticism, & the Like	270	(1)
Critical Assistance	271	(4)
The Final Word	275	(1)
Summary	276	(3)
Index	279