Tuberculosis case-finding and diagnostics
While focusing primarily on tuberculosis-related trials in the Division of Tuberculosis Elimination, I started to branch out into TB-related laboratory methods and case-finding. When Kevin Cain asked whether recursive partitioning could improve evidence for how to find persons with HIV at particular risk of developing TB, I was hooked. I invented a brute-force method to evaluate millions of screening rules. After our results appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, I collaborated on a 12-study meta-analysis of case-finding that moved a 2007 World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation based on expert opinion to a 2011 WHO recommendation based on meta-analytic evidence. I turned my story about one statistician’s contributions into a testimony of exhortation to Bard College’s 2011 first-year optimists, how I carried through on my values as a scientist in contribution to evidence for finding TB to stop TB.
I also extended my thinking about diagnostics in clinical trials to diagnostics for case-finding. I perceived that laboratorians and statisticians tended to approach the same data with different orientations. A microbiologist might ask, What does the result from this specimen say about how this person should receive care? A statistician might ask, What does the result from this specimen contribute to our understanding of similar results among everyone like this person? I coined a notion of data-whispering for gentling meaning from complex laboratory data, and I invented a few novel visual representations along the way.
42 works filed here — presentation 23 · publication 19. 20 prepared, 1 published on this site so far.
Selected works
- Heilig CM. Find TB to stop TB: how science has improved global guidelines for curtailing the TB/HIV syndemic. Presented at: Citizen Science, Bard College; 2011-01-13.On this site (opens in a new tab)
All 20 citable works filed here are in the works index.
In this domain
| year | form | subdomain | work |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | publication | tb-find |
pu_2009_monkongdee_smear-culture-yield — Yield of acid-fast smear and mycobacterial culture for tuberculosis diagnosis in people with human immunodeficiency virus |
| 2010 | publication | tb-find |
pu_2010_cain_tb-hiv-algorithm — An algorithm for tuberculosis screening and diagnosis in people with HIV |
| 2011 | presentation | tb-find |
pr_20110113_find-tb-stop-tb |
| 2011 | publication | tb-find |
pu_2011_getahun_tb-screening-rule — Development of a standardized screening rule for tuberculosis in people living with HIV in resource-constrained settings: Individual participant data meta-analysis of observational studies |
| 2012 | publication | tb-find |
pu_2012_kim_symptom-screen-infectious-tb — Symptom screen for identification of highly infectious tuberculosis in people living with HIV in Southeast Asia |
| 2013 | publication | tb-find |
pu_2013_auld_tst-clinical-presentation — Association between tuberculin skin test result and clinical presentation of tuberculosis disease |
| 2013 | publication | tb-find |
pu_2013_auld_tst-death-risk — Tuberculin skin test result and risk of death among persons with active TB |
| 2013 | publication | tb-find |
pu_2013_oramasionwu_stool-cultures-tb — The utility of stool cultures for diagnosing tuberculosis in people living with the human immunodeficiency virus |
| 2015 | publication | tb-find |
pu_2015_kurbatova_culture-conversion-prognostic — Sputum culture conversion as a prognostic marker for end-of-treatment outcome in patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis: a secondary analysis of data from two observational cohort studies |
| 2015 | publication | tb-find |
pu_2015_sharma_decentralized-lab-diagnosis — Assessing the effect of decentralisation of laboratory diagnosis for drug-resistant tuberculosis in Kenya |
| 2016 | publication | tb-find |
pu_2016_auld_igra-site-death — IFN-γ release assay result is associated with disease site and death in active tuberculosis |
| 2016 | publication | tb-find |
pu_2016_cavanaugh_tb-diagnostic-yield — Comparative yield of different diagnostic tests for tuberculosis among people living with HIV in western Kenya |
| 2016 | publication | tb-find |
pu_2016_kim_recurrent-tb-factors — Factors associated with recurrent tuberculosis more than 12 months after treatment completion |
| 2016 | publication | tb-find |
pu_2016_modi_tb-screening-algorithms — Performance of clinical screening algorithms for tuberculosis intensified case finding among people living with HIV in western Kenya |
| 2019 | publication | tb-find |
pu_2019_mchembere_hiv-yield-tb-casefinding — High yield of new HIV diagnoses during active case-finding for tuberculosis |
| 2019 | publication | tb-find |
pu_2019_okelloh_tb-casefinding-kenya — Lessons learned from community-based tuberculosis case-finding in western Kenya |
| 2019 | publication | tb-find |
pu_2019_yuen_tb-casefinding-efficiency — Optimizing the efficiency of tuberculosis active case-finding in health facilities and communities |
| 2020 | publication | tb-find |
pu_2020_barr_tb-bloodstream-infection — Mycobacterium tuberculosis bloodstream infection prevalence, diagnosis, and mortality risk in seriously ill adults with HIV: a systematic review and meta-analysis of individual patient data |
| 2020 | publication | tb-find |
pu_2020_warria_tb-household-contacts — Tuberculosis disease and infection among household contacts of bacteriologically confirmed and non‐confirmed tuberculosis patients |
| 2021 | publication | tb-find |
pu_2021_song_diagnose-pediatric-tb — Sensitive and feasible specimen collection and testing strategies for diagnosing tuberculosis in young children |
22 further works are filed here without a render — not cite-only, simply not yet prepared.
Crossings
Measured from the citation bridge, not asserted — presentations span, publications are pinned, and this is where that shows.
Reached from elsewhere — 6 deck(s) filed in other domains cite 9 works from this one.
| deck | filed in | cites | strength |
|---|---|---|---|
pr_20130314_data-whispering |
tb-surv |
pu_2010_cain_tb-hiv-algorithm — An algorithm for tuberculosis screening and diagnosis in people with HIV |
high |
pr_20151029_dashes-dots_rug |
data-practice |
pu_2013_auld_tst-clinical-presentation — Association between tuberculin skin test result and clinical presentation of tuberculosis disease |
med |
pr_20151029_dashes-dots_rug |
data-practice |
pu_2021_song_diagnose-pediatric-tb — Sensitive and feasible specimen collection and testing strategies for diagnosing tuberculosis in young children |
med |
pr_20160517_data-science-wisdom |
data-culture |
pu_2010_cain_tb-hiv-algorithm — An algorithm for tuberculosis screening and diagnosis in people with HIV |
high |
pr_20160517_data-science-wisdom |
data-culture |
pu_2011_getahun_tb-screening-rule — Development of a standardized screening rule for tuberculosis in people living with HIV in resource-constrained settings: Individual participant data meta-analysis of observational studies |
high |
pr_20191024_all-your-base-r_rug |
data-practice |
pu_2019_yuen_tb-casefinding-efficiency — Optimizing the efficiency of tuberculosis active case-finding in health facilities and communities |
high |
pr_20191024_all-your-base-r_rug |
data-practice |
pu_2021_song_diagnose-pediatric-tb — Sensitive and feasible specimen collection and testing strategies for diagnosing tuberculosis in young children |
high |
pr_20220419_composing-graphics-literary_atsdr-grow |
data-practice |
pu_2021_song_diagnose-pediatric-tb — Sensitive and feasible specimen collection and testing strategies for diagnosing tuberculosis in young children |
high |
pr_20220628_data-modernization-people_presented_ypn |
data-culture |
pu_2011_getahun_tb-screening-rule — Development of a standardized screening rule for tuberculosis in people living with HIV in resource-constrained settings: Individual participant data meta-analysis of observational studies |
low |
Cited, not served
Nothing in this domain is cite-only.
Hooks
6 of the 36 closed hooks sit on work filed here — Chad’s own first person, published as written.
pu_2010_cain_tb-hiv-algorithm · tier full · ready
I developed the brute-force method for finding combinatorial, or “m-of-n”, symptom based rules for screening. I outlined the method and finding in 20110113_find-tb-stop-tb and then led a meta-analysis that incorporated this study’s findings with others’.
pu_2011_getahun_tb-screening-rule · tier full · ready
I led this meta-analysis after leading a portion of the analysis in pu_2010_cain_tb-hiv-algorithm. This paper contributed to a change in World Health Organization recommendations, which then cascaded into several presentations. Those include, without limitation, 20110113_find-tb-stop-tb, 20160517_data-science-wisdom-culture, and 20220627_data-modernization-is-people.
pu_2013_auld_tst-clinical-presentation · tier abstract+ · ready
I created figure 2 in this manuscript. It also appears in 20151029_dashes-dots-small-data-graphics.
pu_2016_auld_igra-site-death · tier abstract+ · ready
I created the figure in this manuscript.
pu_2019_yuen_tb-casefinding-efficiency · tier abstract+ · ready
The cluster-randomized design of this study appears in detail in 20191024_all-your-base-r.
pu_2021_song_diagnose-pediatric-tb · tier full · ready
I love the scale of this analysis: dozens of laboratory results about each of ~32 children with HIV. We didn’t let the underdetermination stop us from figuring out what the data could and could not tell us. I used resampling methods extensively and presented the results graphically, first in 20151029_dashes-dots-small-data-graphics, then analytically in 20191024_all-your-base-r, and as antiphony between graphics and analysis in 20220419_composing-graphics-literary.