Lead time bias is the bias that occurs when two tests for a disease are compared, and one test (the new, experimental one) diagnoses the disease earlier, but there is no effect on the outcome of the disease—it may appear that the test prolonged survival, when in fact it only resulted in earlier diagnosis when compared to traditional methods. It is an important factor when evaluating the effectiveness of a specific test.
Read more about Lead Time Bias: Relationship Between Screening and Survival
Famous quotes containing the words lead, time and/or bias:
“Every Age has its own peculiar faith.... Any attempt to translate into facts the mission of one Age with the machinery of another, can only end in an indefinite series of abortive efforts. Defeated by the utter want of proportion between the means and the end, such attempts might produce martyrs, but never lead to victory.”
—Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–1872)
“I’m real ambivalent about [working mothers]. Those of use who have been in the women’s movement for a long time know that we’ve talked a good game of “go out and fulfill your dreams” and “be everything you were meant to be.” But by the same token, we want daughters-in-law who are going to stay home and raise our grandchildren.”
—Erma Bombeck (20th century)
“The solar system has no anxiety about its reputation, and the credit of truth and honesty is as safe; nor have I any fear that a skeptical bias can be given by leaning hard on the sides of fate, of practical power, or of trade, which the doctrine of Faith cannot down-weigh.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)