The American journal of medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Guiding individual decisions: a randomized, controlled trial of decision analysis.
In early 1983, all 1,280 faculty and resident physicians at one hospital who were eligible to be vaccinated against hepatitis B were divided randomly into three groups: Group 1 physicians received general information about the risks and benefits of alternative vaccine decisions; Group 2 physicians were additionally invited to provide personal information for an individualized decision analysis (12.6 percent responded); and Group 3 physicians, who served as controls, were not contacted. In one year's follow-up, 20 percent of physicians were screened for hepatitis B antibody or vaccinated. ⋯ Group assignment remained significantly associated with vaccine decisions after analyzing results by the "intention to treat" principle, and after adjusting for training status, exposure to blood and blood products, and pre-study intentions about the vaccine. Despite the low overall vaccine acceptance rate, it is concluded that individualized decision analysis can influence the clinical decisions taken by knowledgeable and interested patients.
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Comparative Study
Occult carbon monoxide poisoning: validation of a prediction model.
Headache and dizziness are early symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, occurring at carboxyhemoglobin levels of greater than 10 percent. Previously, it was shown that among patients presenting to an emergency department during the winter with headache or dizziness, an algorithm for obtaining carboxyhemoglobin levels on patients who used gas stoves for heating purposes or who had similarly affected cohabitants correctly identified all patients with carboxyhemoglobin levels greater than 10 percent. To test the validity of this retrospectively derived rule, 65 patients were studied who were unaware of any carbon monoxide exposure and who presented during the winter of 1986-1987 with headache or dizziness. ⋯ The presence of symptomatic cohabitants alone was an equally sensitive (75 percent) but more specific (90 percent) marker for elevated carboxyhemoglobin levels. When data from the two cohorts were combined, stepwise multiple regression identified number of cigarettes smoked daily (F = 8.66) and concurrently symptomatic cohabitants (F = 34.71) as significant predictors of the carboxyhemoglobin level. It is concluded that a retrospectively derived rule correctly identified most cases of occult carbon monoxide poisoning when applied prospectively, and that the presence of similarly affected cohabitants was the most reliable marker for a carbon monoxide-mediated illness.