Diagnostic problem‐solving with causal chaining

Parsimonious covering theory is a formal model of abductive diagnostic problem‐solving, Diagnostic knowledge is represented as a network of causal associations, and inferences are made using a sequential hypothesize‐and‐test procedure. In this article, we extend the methods available in parsimonious covering theory and related models to handle causal chaining (situations where multistep causal associations exist between disorders and manifestations). These extensions make parsimonious covering theory capable of representing a much broader range of real‐world diagnostic problems.