Department of Respiratory Medicine, West Park Healthcare Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2011 Sep 15;184(6):642-6. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201103-0497CC.
To correctly interpret clinical measurements it is necessary to understand the standard deviation and the standard error; the former reflects the range or variability of individuals within a sample and the latter reflects the precision for which the group parameters have been estimated. When evaluating an individual patient, test measurement properties such as repeatability will assist in concluding whether a repeated test, measured to monitor the response to an intervention, has changed beyond its natural variability. Using the “best” test has an inherent bias and ignores the natural test variation, whereas the average of repeated tests is more representative of the true value, making it more discriminative to change. Serial measurements to follow progress will increase a clinician's confidence in the observed effects of treatment.
为了正确解读临床测量结果，有必要了解标准差和标准误；前者反映了样本中个体的范围或可变性，后者反映了对群体参数进行估计的精度。在评估个体患者时，测试测量性能（如可重复性）将有助于确定重复测试是否已经超出其自然变异性而发生变化，这些测试用于监测对干预措施的反应。使用“最佳”测试具有内在的偏差，并且忽略了自然测试变化，而重复测试的平均值更能代表真实值，因此更具区分力。进行连续测量以跟踪进展情况，将提高临床医生对治疗效果的观察信心。
