Selecting a diagnostic test is a complex and sometimes bewildering task. Systematic reviews of diagnostic test accuracy provide only some of the essential information that physicians need. Choice of a diagnostic test is embedded within a dynamic multistage screening and decision-making context in which past clinical assessments and review of personal and family medical history determine the need for testing. For diagnostic tests, it is important to understand not only the test characteristics, such as sensitivity and specificity, but also the relative benefits and harms from actions in response to test results for subgroups of patients and the individual patient. ...

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