How reliable is prognostic research? A case study of C-reactive protein in coronary artery disease
Tuesday, June 1, 2010 - 17:31
in Health & Medicine
Prognostic markers provide tools for discriminating between groups of patients who are at different risks of a particular outcome, and therefore should help clinicians to manage disease. In a comprehensive overview of studies looking at one such proposed marker, C-reactive protein (CRP) in coronary artery disease, Harry Hemingway and colleagues, from University College London, show that despite the inclusion of many tens of thousands of patients in research on this specific question, the published record is so inadequate that no clear clinical recommendations can be made.