title: The informational yield of paired samples from a large sample: hair analysis and urinalysis for cocaine and cannabinoids.
abstract: In a variety of decision settings when categorical information is the data in hand, the correspondence between an indicator test and a true condition (i.e., an accepted "gold standard") is often assessed by the use of comparison or "truth" tables. The results from such a table can be considered an informational yield and allow a practitioner to assess the utility of the indicator test in various ways, such as specificity and sensitivity, false positive and negative rates, and the positive and negative predictive values. There are many reasons for the use of an indicator test. This article proposes a novel application of an informational measure in determining the utility of hair and urine specimens for clinical decision making. It does this for two commonly abused substances, cocaine and cannabinoids. It suggests that in clinical applications the ability to assess informational yield is an important factor in developing clinical strategies for treatment of addictive disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Criminology, The University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620, USA. mieczkow@usf.edu
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mieczkowski
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kruger
mesh_terms: D002186:Cannabinoids / Q000378:metabolism*; D003042:Cocaine / Q000378:metabolism*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D007586:Job Application; D018986:Motor Vehicles; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000379:methods; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism; D016482:Urinalysis
chemical_list: D002186:Cannabinoids; D003042:Cocaine