Does Terminal Digit Preference Occur In Pathology?

摘要

Terminal digit preference is defined as a phenomenon whereby an observer rounds off a measurement to a digit of his or her choosing, commonly the terminal digit zero. In medicine, it has received the most attention in relation to blood pressure measurement, where it has been shown to cause significant discrepancies in recorded values. A literature search does not however reveal any reference to digit preference in pathology and this is perhaps surprising, considering the importance of accurate measurement. In order to establish whether or not digit preference may occur in pathology, our database of colorectal adenocarcinomas was chosen for a retrospective analysis of maximum tumour size, measured as part of the macroscopic examination. The systema-tised nomenclature of human and veterinary medicine (SNOMED) coding system was used to search over a period of 5 years, during which time there was a total of 110 resection specimens examined. For each case, tumour measurement was recorded in centimetres to one decimal place.