External Validation of Clinical Prediction Models
Keywords:
clinical prediction models, external validation, calibration, transportability, TRIPODAbstract
This clinical methods review examines external validation of clinical prediction models. The organizing question is which design and reporting choices establish transportability, calibration, utility, and subgroup safety. Ten related scholarly sources are synthesized through a decision-centered framework spanning problem definition, mechanism, measurement, evaluation, implementation, and governance. The review does not invent experiments, pooled estimates, or unreported quantitative results. It instead evaluates the strength and transferability of the available evidence, with particular attention to calling a random split an external validation or reporting discrimination alone. The resulting framework links technical or empirical performance to explicit use conditions and identifies tests that should precede wider adoption in clinical risk stratification and decision support.
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