Thank you for your article highlighting the need to intelligently think about what tests we request rather than just tick boxes.1 The summary states that ‘Inflammatory markers … should not be used as rule-out tests’. However, I think that the print version of the article short-changes the reader since, in your online version, it is clear that high levels of CRP and ESR are associated with important disease in a third of cases. This is surely something that ought to have been highlighted and would I think merit a softer conclusion.
REFERENCE
- 1.Watson J, Salisbury C, Whiting P, et al. Added value and cascade effects of inflammatory marker tests in UK primary care: a cohort study from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink. Br J Gen Pract. 2019. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]