Resources Repository
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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 | Test Performance | Technology Assessment | Infectious Diseases | Clinical Care | 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 | Test Performance | Infectious Diseases | Clinical Care | Health/Medicine -
ArticlePublication 2020Interpreting COVID-19 Test Results: A Bayesian Approach
This article considers the following question with respect to interpreting the results of polymerase chain reaction …
This article considers the following question with respect to interpreting the results of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays from nasal and pharyngeal swabs for COVID-19 to inform clinical decision making: "While a positive result in an acutely ill patient is straightforward, how should physicians interpret negative tests in patients with suspected COVID-19 infection?" Using an assumption of near-perfect specificity of PCR assays for COVID-19, the authors acknowledge the uncertainty of test sensitivity. They consider two clinical scenarios…
Probability/Bayes | Test Performance | Infectious Diseases | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Global -
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 | Test Performance | Clinical Care | Health/Medicine -
ArticlePublication 2017Benefit and Harm of Intensive Blood Pressure Treatment: Derivation and Validation of Risk Models Using Data from the Sprint and Accord Trials
Intensive blood pressure (BP) treatment can avert cardiovascular disease (CVD) events but can cause some …
Intensive blood pressure (BP) treatment can avert cardiovascular disease (CVD) events but can cause some serious adverse events. The authors sought to create risk calculators to estimate individual patients’ chances of benefit and harm from intensive treatment. They developed statistical models of cardiovascular events and serious adverse events from individual participant data from the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT) of intensive blood pressure treatment (N = 9,069 with complete covariate data) and validated them…
Probability/Bayes | Health Outcomes | Evidence Synthesis | Chronic Disease/Risk -
OrganizationWeb Portal 2024Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM)
The Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) founded in 1952 to convey mathematical knowledge …
The Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) founded in 1952 to convey mathematical knowledge to other professionals who could implement mathematical theory for practical, industrial, or scientific use. SIAM's mission is to build cooperation between mathematics and the worlds of science and technology through publications, research, and community. SIAM is an international community with over 14,000 individual members and almost 500 academic, manufacturing, research and development, service and consulting organizations, government, and military organizations…
Probability/Bayes | Business/Industry | Education/Labor | Science/Technology | Global -
OrganizationWeb Portal 2024American Statistical Association (ASA)
The American Statistical Association (ASA) founded in 1839, is the world’s second-oldest, continuously operating professional association …
The American Statistical Association (ASA) founded in 1839, is the world’s second-oldest, continuously operating professional association in the country. The ASA has supported the development, application, and dissemination of statistical science through meetings, publications, membership services, accreditation, fellowships and grants, and advocacy. ASA provides educational materials for K–12 undergraduate and graduate faculty, statistics students, and statisticians in developing countries, including classroom resources, publications in statistics education, guidelines and reports, professional development resources, communities, competitions, programs, and resources…
Probability/Bayes | Decision Theory | Evidence Synthesis | Business/Industry | Climate/Environment | Education/Labor | Food/Agriculture | Health/Medicine | Military/Defense | Science/Technology | Global | North America -
OrganizationWeb Portal 2024International Society for Bayesian Analysis (ISBA)
The International Society for Bayesian Analysis (ISBA) was founded in 1992 to promote the development …
The International Society for Bayesian Analysis (ISBA) was founded in 1992 to promote the development and application of Bayesian analysis. By sponsoring and organizing meetings, publishing the electronic journal Bayesian Analysis, and other activities, ISBA provides an international community for those interested in Bayesian analysis and its applications, and includes interest sections on topics such as biostatistics/pharmaceuticals, computation, economics/finance/business, education research/practice, environmental sciences, industrial statistics, nonparametrics and objective Bayes. Bayesian Analysis is the electronic journal…
Probability/Bayes | Decision Theory | Business/Industry | Climate/Environment | Education/Labor | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Global -
ArticlePublication 2007Decision Analysis: A Personal Account of How It Got Started and Evolved
In this chapter, Howard Raiffa discusses the evolution of decision analysis and his personal involvement …
In this chapter, Howard Raiffa discusses the evolution of decision analysis and his personal involvement in its development. He describes the early days of Operations Research (OR) in the late 1940s with its approach to complex, strategic decision making. After reading John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern’s Theory of Games and Economic Behavior (1947) and Abraham Wald’s two books (1947, 1950), he became involved in statistical decision theory. A few years later, after reading Leonard…
Probability/Bayes | Decision Theory | Preferences/Values | Decision Analysis | Operations Research | Business/Industry | Economics/Finance | Energy/Engineering | Health/Medicine