Diagnostic Strategies for Common Medical Problems.

At last, the second edition of Diagnostic Strategies for Common Medical Problems has arrived to replace the well-used first edition, published in 1991.Evidence about the precision and accuracy of diagnostic tests is not always readily available, and this resource attempts to overcome the problem.Its aim is to help clinicians with both critical appraisal of diagnostic tests and quantitative decision making about diagnostic strategies.It provides information about the operating characteristics of diagnostic tests and procedures that are commonly used in clinical practice, particularly in internal medicine.Unfortunately, this book does not provide any information on whether the literature was systematically reviewed and critically appraised for each topic.References are provided in each chapter, but no mention is made of the methodological rigour of the referenced studies.The authors provide quantification of the results of the diagnostic studies and present them as sensitivities, specificities, and likelihood ratios, although no confidence intervals are included.An electronic version of Diagnostic Strategies will be published with the year 2000 issue of Best Evidence.No information, however, is provided on how often it will be updated.The editors suggest that users go to the literature to retrieve the most up-todate evidence, and indeed, they provide a chapter on searching and appraising evidence about diagnostic tests.