1) False alarms and unrealistic expectations in preventive care (12/22/12)
2) Overdiagnosis and the epidemic of snipers on rooftops (1/2/13)
3) Too much medical care: do we know it when we see it? (1/21/13)
4) Yes, family medicine is an affordable career choice (12/4/12)
5) Cancer epidemiology 101 for urologists (and others) (12/12/12)
If you have a personal favorite that isn't on this list, please let me know. Thanks for reading!
Why is having your blood count done at your physical a bad idea?
ReplyDeleteThe short version: the predictive value of tests for disease depends largely on your underlying risk of having a problem. A generally healthy person with no symptoms (fever, fatigue, etc.) is much more likely to have a false positive than a true positive test, resulting in additional unnecessary, and possibly invasive tests (eg bone marrow biopsy). In someone who's sick, a complete blood count can sometimes be helpful. In someone who's well, it almost always leads to trouble. Further reading here: http://www.aafp.org/afp/2007/0801/p351.html
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