Laboratory decision science applied to chemometrics: strategic testing of thyroid function.

Clinical decision analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis have begun to penetrate academic laboratory medicine. Decision science offers tools by which clinical chemical tests may be evaluated for their medical efficacy and economic feasibility. In the "treat, test, observe" paradigm it provides a framework for placing new laboratory tests in an appropriate clinical context. A general overview of the decision analysis method and the laboratory-oriented model is presented, with an application to the development of strategies for hospital-based testing of thyroid function.