Clinical Guidelines for Using Two Dichotomous Tests

Abstract

Building on the threshold model developed by Pauker and Kassirer for a single test, the authors describe a decision analytic model for two tests with dichotomous outcomes. The model includes ten decision strategies that differ depending on which tests are performed, whether the tests are performed together or in sequence, and the definition of a positivity criterion used to make the treatment decision when the test results disagree. Formulas derived from the model are used to compute the preferred option as a function of disease probability and to calculate test and test-treatment thresholds. General guidelines developed from the model can be used without calculation to identify relative preferences for alternative options and to predict threshold effects. Key words: decision analytic model; tests with dichotomous outcomes. (Med Decis Making 6:68-78, 1986)