Lead time bias
🧠 Psych - 62 / 100
Hey,
Today, We will be talking about the Lead time bias.
What is it?
Lead time bias is the time between early diagnosis with screening and the time in which diagnosis would have been made without screening.
Example -
In healthcare, Lead time bias occurs when the tumor is detected by screening at an earlier stage than that at which it becomes clinically diagnosed.
Where does it occur?
The bias is mainly associated with healthcare sector. It occurs when a disease is detected by a screening or surveillance test at an earlier time point than it would have been if it had been diagnosed by its clinical appearance;
This time lag or “lead time” during which the disease is asymptomatic is not taken into account during the survival analysis.[1]
Why do I need to know?
A strong correlation between tumour size and metastatic death rate might merely be the result of lead-time bias, both the primary tumour and the metastases having been present for a longer period.
In the next issue, we will study about Length time bias which is correlated.
Takeaways:-
Early referrals of symptoms can save you from a larger impact of a disease.
References & Studies:-
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/lead-time-bias
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