| Verification Bias2,
also termed Workup bias, occurs when a study selectively includes patients
for disease verification (or exclusion) by gold standard testing,
based on positive or negative results of preliminary testing, or the study
test itself. To avoid this, a study should include consecutive patients
at risk for a particular disease, and not only a subset who underwent definitive
testing.
The following excerpt from Bandolier:
provides an example
.....examples... One was of a new DNA diagnostic test to detect the beast cancer gene administered to biopsy positive breast cancer and to cancer free controls. Since biopsy may be ordered preferentially in women with a family history of breast cancer, the group of "cases" will be enriched by a clinical factor which itself may be associated with the new DNA test. |