RT Journal
A1 Diederik van Dijk W, van den Bemt L, van Weel C
T1 The clinical utility of prognostic indices: The proof of the pudding is in the eating
JF Archives of Internal Medicine
JO Archives of Internal Medicine
YR 2012
FD January 23
VO 172
IS 2
SP 194
OP 195
DO 10.1001/archinte.172.2.194
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archinte.172.2.194
AB 
In addition to the study by Siontis et al1 that explored the clinical utility of prognostic indices, we would like to highlight the questionable state of prognostic index reporting for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), one of the most important causes of worldwide mortality.2 As yet, 16 prognostic indices for patients with COPD have been published, with various reporting of validation measures; whereas discrimination was assessed in 10 indices, calibration was assessed only once.3- 4 Although most prognostic COPD indices were intended to improve patient care, none were ever studied for its impact on patients' well-being, health care utilization, or mortality. Airflow obstruction is still the only structured measure in clinical COPD guidelines for making medical decisions, along with patients' stated well-being.