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Laurence S. Farer, MD, MPH; Jeffrey P. Koplan, MD, MPH
Centers for Disease Control Atlanta

JAMA. 1981;246(1):41.

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

In Reply.—

We certainly had no intention of giving "the appearance of consensus" and purposely never used the term consensus in any description of the responses to the Delphi survey. The reason we used interquartile ranges about the median estimates for quantitative questions was to indicate dispersal of responses, as suggested by Dalkey.¹

With regard to Dr Basson's specific question about duration of therapy, 73% (112 persons) responded that it should be 12 months; the interquartile range for this answer lies at the median (12-12). Of 154 respondents, only two suggested a duration of less than six months, and only four respondents suggested a duration of greater than 12 months.

The frequency and nature of the changes in estimates after the iteration varied from question to question. However, in 90% of the questions, the range in responses decreased considerably from the first to the second round of the poll. . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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