TY  - JOUR
T1  - CAution on interpreting the time trends in pulmonary embolism as “overdiagnosis”—reply
AU  - Wiener R, Schwartz LM, Woloshin S
Y1  - 2011/11/28
N1  - 10.1001/archinternmed.2011.550
JO  - Archives of Internal Medicine
SP  - 1963
EP  - 1964
VL  - 171
IS  - 21
N2  - 
We thank Ashrani and Heit for their interest in our study.1 Because direct evidence of overdiagnosis can only be obtained if individuals diagnosed as having a PE are observed without treating the PE until they die from other causes, using indirect evidence from population data is an established method of identifying overdiagnosis.2- 4 The pattern of rising incidence, stable mortality, and decreasing case fatality in the setting of the introduction of a highly sensitive test is strongly suggestive of overdiagnosis.5 While we agree with Ashrani and Heit about the general limitations inherent in administrative data (and noted many of these limitations in our article), we are not convinced by their specific comments about competing explanations for our findings.

SN  - 0003-9926
M3  - doi: 10.1001/archinternmed.2011.550
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archinternmed.2011.550
ER  -