A Mathematical Model for Timing Repeated Medical Tests

David M. Eddy

Medical Decision Making, 1983, vol. 3, issue 1, 45-62

Abstract: This paper presents a mathematical model that can be used to estimate the clinical and economic outcomes of monitoring patients with periodic examinations. The model can compare the consequences of monitoring for different disorders, with different tests, at different frequencies. The paper describes formulas that incorporate information about the incidence and natural history of disorders, the effectiveness of tests, the effectiveness of treatment, and the order and frequency of monitoring, to calculate the probability of detecting a disorder, the method and timing of detection, the earliness (e.g., stage) with which a disorder is detected, and the clinical and economic outcomes. The application of the model is described through a hypothetical example. The model has been used to analyze several cancer screening problems involving multiple disorders and multiple tests. (Med Decis Making 3:45-62, 1983).

Date: 1983
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0272989X8300300111 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:medema:v:3:y:1983:i:1:p:45-62

DOI: 10.1177/0272989X8300300111

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Medical Decision Making
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().