  Background: It is not established whether clinical notes provided on
pathology request forms are useful as decision support data when assessing
Hepatitis B and C viral infection status. Objective: To determine sensitivity,
specificity, and predictive value of clinical notes for identifying infection
status of Hepatitis B and C. Methods: The study comprises 179 cases and 166
cases tested for HBsAg and anti-HCV serological markers, respectively, and
accompanied by a written description (clinical note) provided on pathology
request forms by the clinician on duty. The clinical note sensitivity,
specificity, positive (PPV) and negative (NPV) predictive values were
calculated using serological HBsAg and anti-HCV tests as gold standards.
Results: The sensitivity and specificity of clinical notes for Hepatitis B
infection status were 90 percent and 56 percent, respectively. The sensitivity
and specificity of clinical notes for Hepatitis C infection status were 86
percent and 21 percent, respectively. Conclusions: Clinical note information
identifies moderate-to-high sensitivity with regards to Hepatitis B and C viral
infection status, however, given low specificity in both groups, the clinical
note is not favourable for ruling disease in, possibly due to high rate of
false positives.
