Resources Repository
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BookPublication 1980Clinical Decision Analysis
This text was conceived and developed in the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health …
This text was conceived and developed in the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health at the Center for the Analysis of Health Practices. The book had its origins in a set of classroom materials developed during the academic year 1974-75 for an elective course in medical decision making at the Harvard Medical School. In this book students are shown how to structure clinical decision problems, how to systematically formulate the intertwining roles of diagnosis and treatment, how to…
Preferences/Values | Probability/Bayes | Value of Information | Chronic Disease/Risk | Costing Methods | Health Outcomes | Test Performance | State-Transition | Decision Analysis | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Infectious Diseases | Child/Nutrition | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Global | North America | Europe | Graduate | Doctoral | Critical Thinking/Analysis | Decision Making/Leadership | Quantitative Literacy -
ArticlePublication 2022Systematic Review of Patient Preferences, Expectations, and Values for Management and Treatment of Hypertension
This analysis summarized the evidence on the preferences, expectations, and values of hypertension management and …
This analysis summarized the evidence on the preferences, expectations, and values of hypertension management and treatment in hypertensive patients. The authors reviewed 24 studies involving 8,701 participants. Despite varying areas of focus, common themes included (1) patients often obtain hypertension information from their physicians and prefer shared patient-centered decision-making, and (2) side effects, cost, and convenience are important factors for patients when selecting a treatment regimen for hypertension.
Preferences/Values | Chronic Disease/Risk | Clinical Care | Health Outcomes -
ArticlePublication 2015A Conceptual Model for Breast, Cervical, and Colorectal Cancer Screening
General frameworks of the cancer screening process are available, but none directly compare the process …
General frameworks of the cancer screening process are available, but none directly compare the process in detail across different organ sites. This limits the ability of medical and public health professionals to develop and evaluate coordinated screening programs that apply resources and population management strategies available for one cancer site to other sites. This paper presents a conceptual model that incorporates a single screening episode for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers into a unified framework based…
Preferences/Values | Chronic Disease/Risk | Clinical Care | Health Outcomes | Evidence Synthesis | Test Performance | Microsimulation | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Health Systems | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | North America -
Tutorial/PrimerPublication, Teaching Resource 2024Tutorial: Building Decision Trees
This tutorial illustrates the basic steps needed to develop decision trees in Amua using a …
This tutorial illustrates the basic steps needed to develop decision trees in Amua using a disease screening example. It details the process of how to build the structure of a decision tree, parameterize the model with probabilities and relevant outcomes (i.e., life expectancy), evaluate three alternative screening strategies in a baseline scenario, and perform one-way sensitivity analyses to assess the robustness of the results to different parameter values. Amua, the Swahili word meaning “decide”/“solve”, is…
Probability/Bayes | Clinical Care | Mathematical Models | Decision Analysis | Health/Medicine | Graduate | Doctoral | Professional -
ArticlePublication 2022Health Utility of Drinkers' Family Members
Problematic alcohol use is known to harm individuals surrounding the drinker. This study described the …
Problematic alcohol use is known to harm individuals surrounding the drinker. This study described the health utility of people who reported having a family member(s) whom they perceived as a “problem drinker.” Using a US population dataset, and adjusting for other drinking-related factors, perceiving a family member as a problem drinker was associated with lower health utility on the order of 0.033 (P < 0.001) for a spouse/partner to 0.023 (P < 0.001) for a…
Preferences/Values | Chronic Disease/Risk | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | North America -
ArticlePublication 2020Testing for SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies
Antibody testing can determine previous exposure to SARS-CoV-2 virus. Recently, the UK government has made …
Antibody testing can determine previous exposure to SARS-CoV-2 virus. Recently, the UK government has made antibody testing available to anyone wanting it, even if there is no clinical indication. The purpose of this article is to provide guidance for when to consider antibody testing in individuals with and without symptoms suggestive of current or past SARS-CoV-2 infection. Key points made by the authors include: (1) antibody testing is likely to be most useful 2 weeks…
Probability/Bayes | Clinical Care | Test Performance | Technology Assessment | Infectious Diseases | Health/Medicine -
ArticlePublication 2020Bayes' Theorem, COVID-19, and Screening Tests
This article reviews the implications of increased testing for COVID-19 using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain …
This article reviews the implications of increased testing for COVID-19 using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) through the application of Bayes’ Theorem for three hypothetical, stylized case scenarios. The scenarios involve three patients with a low, moderate, and high pre-test probability of COVID-19 infection. The category of low probability would include "asymptomatic individuals in a presumed low prevalence environment" and might vary from 10 to 20%. The category of moderate probability would include "individuals…
Probability/Bayes | Clinical Care | Test Performance | Infectious Diseases | Health/Medicine -
ArticlePublication 2020Incorporating Perspective into Clinical Decisions
Part of a six-part series of articles on clinical decision making, in this article, the …
Part of a six-part series of articles on clinical decision making, in this article, the authors discuss how to incorporate perspective into clinical decisions, explicitly acknowledging that the treating physician is not the only stakeholder in these decisions. The authors use 2 case studies to demonstrate how changes in perspective can alter the clinical decision as well lead to both intended and unintended consequences to the outcomes.
Preferences/Values | Clinical Care | Priority Setting/Ethics | Health Outcomes | Health Systems | Health/Medicine -
ArticlePublication 2020Clinical Decision Making: Using a Diagnostic Test
This article is part of a 6-part series on clinical decision making. The authors use …
This article is part of a 6-part series on clinical decision making. The authors use two clinical examples to review the principles of interpreting diagnostic test results. They outline an approach that can be used to determine how to select and apply tests and their results to the practice of internal medicine. Topics covered in the two case studies include sensitivity and specificity, positive predictive and negative predictive value of tests, and how to estimate…
Probability/Bayes | Clinical Care | Test Performance | Health/Medicine