The Use of Thiocyanate Determination for Indication of Cigarette Smoking Status

The present study was carried out to define the power and efficiency of thiocyanate as a discriminator for smoking status, and to apply some principles of decision and utility analysis to aid in the utilization of the diagnostic test in an intervention program. Data from 652 participants in the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (MRFIT) were used to derive the sensitivity and specificity of the thiocyanate test. Predictive values were computed based upon new prevalence estimates in order to determine the predictive validity of the test in various samples of smokers. The second part of the paper investigated the impact of various costs of errors of diagnosis upon an intervention program using thiocyanate as a discriminator variable. Implications for the use in intervention programs of thiocyanate as opposed to screening procedures are discussed.