Evaluating the scripts and thresholds of general practitioners for diagnosing heart failure in elderly people

BMC Primary Care

Table 3 Differences in diagnostic power of the cues in the 19 minor cases based on the clinical context

	Total group	Trainee	Trainer
Lung auscultation
Normal^a	P < 0.001	P = 0.003	P = 0.007
Basal crackles^b	P < 0.001	P < 0.001	P = 0.001
Wheezing^b	P < 0.001	P < 0.001	P = 0.074
Dyspnoea
Absent^b	P = 0.059	P = 0.51	P = 0.020
Present^b	P = 0.58	P = 0.78	P = 0.56
NT-proBNP
Normal^a	P = 0.002	P = 0.098	P = 0.007
Increased^a	P = 0.054	P = 0.056	P = 0.17
Heart murmur
Absent^b	P = 0.51	P = 0.70	P = 0.13
Present^b	P = 0.25	P = 0.40	P = 0.41
Orthopnoea
Absent^a	P = 0.035	P = 0.14	P = 0.16
Present^a	P < 0.001	P < 0.001	P = 0.25
Jugular venous pressure
Normal^a	P = 0.68	P = 0.43	P = 0.15
Increased^a	P < 0.001	P < 0.001	P < 0.001
Nocturnal paroxysmal dyspnoea
Absent^b	P = 0.62	P = 0.79	P = 0.23
Present^b	P = 0.43	P = 0.96	P = 0.17
Apex beat
Normal^b	P = 0.80	P = 0.85	P = 0.65
Displaced^b	P = 0.038	P = 0.041	P = 0.41
Oedema
Absent^a	P = 0.20	P = 0.27	P = 0.32
Present^a	P < 0.001	P < 0.001	P = 0.054
History myocardial infarct
Absent^b	P = 0.69	P = 0.70	P = 0.90
Present^b	P = 0.32	P = 0.58	P = 0.35
Electrocardiography
Normal^b	P = 0.024	P = 0.063	P = 0.20
Abnormal^b	P < 0.001	P < 0.001	P = 0.69
Chest X-ray (cardiothoracic index)
Normal^b	P = 0.048	P = 0.070	P = 0.41
Abnormal^b	P < 0.001	P < 0.001	P < 0.001
Pulse rate
Regular^b	P < 0.001	P < 0.001	P = 0.007
Irregular^b	P = 0.17	P = 0.68	P = 0.002
Appetite
Normal^b	P = 0.58	P = 0.23	P = 0.32
Decreased^b	P < 0.001	P < 0.001	P = 0.43

^aDifference in distribution of the given power between the cases (>2) with Friedman’s test
^bDifference in distribution of the given power between the cases (≤2) with Wilcoxon’s matched-pair signed-rank test

ISSN: 2731-4553