Terminal digit preference, terminal digit bias, or end-digit preference is a commonly-observed statistical phenomenon whereby humans recording numbers have a bias or preference for a specific final digit in a number. In
medical science
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for patients, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pra ...
, this is often seen when recording measurements such as
blood pressure
Blood pressure (BP) is the pressure of Circulatory system, circulating blood against the walls of blood vessels. Most of this pressure results from the heart pumping blood through the circulatory system. When used without qualification, the term ...
by hand, where those taking measurements will round to the nearest 5 or 0.
The phenomenon has been blamed for misdiagnoses. Terminal digit bias has been used to identify errors in research,
and is one method used in the identification of scientific fraud. Severe terminal digit bias has been found in datasets for scientific papers that were later retracted
See also
*
Benford's law
References
Medical error
Quantitative research
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