title: A guide for diagnostic evaluations.
abstract: Accurate diagnostic tests have a key role in patient management and the control of most infectious diseases. Unfortunately, in many developing countries, clinical care is often critically compromised by the lack of regulatory controls on the quality of these tests. The information available on the performance of a diagnostic test can be biased or flawed because of failings in the design of the studies which assessed the performance characteristics of the test. As a result, diagnostic tests are sold and used in much of the developing world without evidence of effectiveness. Misdiagnosis leading to failure to treat a serious infection or wasting expensive treatment on people who are not infected remains a serious obstacle to health.
authors.affiliation: UNICEF/UNDP/ World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research & Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), World Health Organization, 20 Avenue Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland. peelingr@who.int
authors.forename: Rosanna W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Peeling
authors.forename: Peter G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Patrick M M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Bossuyt
mesh_terms: D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003906:Developing Countries; D003955:Diagnostic Tests, Routine / Q000592:standards*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D011786:Quality Control