This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (12)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related letter  • Related article  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Aging/ Geriatrics  • Prognosis/ Outcomes  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Donald A. Redelmeier, MD; Andrew J. Lustig, MD

JAMA. 2001;285:3024-3025.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Prognostic indices are used extensively in clinical research and health service quality reviews to adjust for patients' severity of illness. Given their ubiquitous use in clinical studies, it seems surprising that prognostic indices are rarely used in clinical practice. Such disregard seems to persist even if a prognostic index addresses an important outcome, is derived by rigorous methods, and appears in a prestigious journal. Consider the article by Walter et al¹ in this issue of THE JOURNAL that reports that older patients hospitalized on a general medical service have about a one-third risk of dying in the year following discharge. The 6 characteristics that can be used to predict a patient's specific risk are male sex, dependence in activities of daily living, cancer, heart failure, renal insufficiency, and hypoalbuminemia.

This study has important implications for care in that age was no longer . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Author Affiliations: Departments of Medicine and Health Administration, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

RELATED LETTER

Predictive Value of the Electrocardiogram in Acute Myocardial Infarction
L. Rachid Salmi, Robert D. Welch, Robert Zalenski, Mary Grzybowski, Terry Kowalenko, Judith A. Malmgren, and Nathan R. Every
JAMA. 2002;287(6):711-712.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

RELATED ARTICLE

Development and Validation of a Prognostic Index for 1-Year Mortality in Older Adults After Hospitalization
Louise C. Walter, Richard J. Brand, Steven R. Counsell, Robert M. Palmer, C. Seth Landefeld, Richard H. Fortinsky, and Kenneth E. Covinsky
JAMA. 2001;285(23):2987-2994.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Development of a Clinical Prediction Rule for Guiding Treatment of a Subgroup of Patients With Neck Pain: Use of Thoracic Spine Manipulation, Exercise, and Patient Education
Cleland et al.
ptjournal 2007;87:9-23.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Development and Validation of a Prognostic Index for 4-Year Mortality in Older Adults
Lee et al.
JAMA 2006;295:801-808.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Forecasting mortality: dynamic assessment of risk in ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction
Chang et al.
Eur Heart J 2006;27:419-426.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Sources of variability in uncertain medical decisions in the ICU: a process tracing study
Kostopoulou and Wildman
Qual Saf Health Care 2004;13:272-280.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

A Clinical Prediction Rule to Identify Patients With Atrial Fibrillation and a Low Risk for Stroke While Taking Aspirin
van Walraven et al.
Arch Intern Med 2003;163:936-943.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Predictive Value of the Electrocardiogram in Acute Myocardial Infarction
Salmi et al.
JAMA 2002;287:711-712.
FULL TEXT  

Use of Prognostic Indexes for Determining Malpractice Liability
Smith et al.
JAMA 2001;286:1712-1713.
FULL TEXT