CLINICAL REVIEW BIAS:
A bias relevant to studies of diagnostic accuracy. When estimates of test performance are influenced by the availability and/or interpretation of clinical data such as age, sex, or disease symptoms1,2,3. Thus, Clinical Review Bias is a type of Information Bias relevant to studies where the accuracy of clinical tests are being compared.
Clinical Review Bias can be mitigated by ensuring that those who evaluate test results in these studies, are blinded to the participant characteristics, as well as the objectives of the study. This is challenging however, as often test results for diagnostic accuracy studies are taken from medical records derived during routine clinic visits; and thus those persons scoring the tests often know a patients history prior to assessing a score. Avoiding the use of test results from routine medical records may help to control this bias.
The term Clinical Review Bias is sometimes used informally to describe any biases that may arise due to misinterpretation of information presented in medical records, or other clinical sources. Use of the term in this context is not useful as it is nonspecific, and could refer to any of a wide range of Information Biases. Also see: Test Review Bias, Information Bias, Diagnostic Suspicion Bias, Exposure Suspicion Bias, Incorporation Bias, Workup Bias, and Verification Bias.
References:
1. Whiting P, Rutjes AW, Reitsma JB, Glas AS, Bossuyt PM, Kleijnen J. Sources of variation and bias in studies of diagnostic accuracy: a systematic review. Ann Intern Med. 2004;140(3):189-202. (Link to Reference)
2. Suri P, Hunter DJ, Katz JN, Li L, Rainville J. Bias in the physical examination of patients with lumbar radiculopathy. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders. 2010;11(1):275. (Link to Reference)
3. Castilla-Earls AP, Harvey B, Fulcher-Rood K, Barr CD. The Impact of Clinical Review Bias on Child Language Grammaticality. Communication Disorders Quarterly. 2019;41(4):214-21. (Link to Reference)