[jacquesm]

No, there isn't, though it is probably important to point out that age, genetic disposition and gender are a big factor in selecting what kind of test and if positive what kind of treatment - if any - will be administered and that this is as you correctly identify on symptomatic patients only which raises the base rate in that population (the population of symptomatic patients) tremendously.

And that's exactly where the issue with indiscriminate asymptomatic testing lies, that requires much higher quality tests than the ones that can be used in a diagnostic setting once a patient is symptomatic.

To add one more unpopular bit of data to all this: there is some evidence that the indiscriminate testing for certain cancers has gone too far and that it no longer is a net positive. But in the presence of certain mutations those tests are extremely valuable.

https://www.statnews.com/2018/01/01/cancer-screening-misled-...

Biology is messy, and it is quite hard to state up front whether or not a test or a treatment - even if in an experimental setting it is working - will still be a gain if rolled out in a different setting or application. Hence all the trials and studies, that's the only way to really get a grip on this.

I'm quite curious what the outcome of the large scale test the article refers to will be.