Conducting systematic reviews of diagnostic studies: didactic guidelines

By W. Devillé, F. Buntinx, L. Bouter, V. Montori, H. D. Vet, D. V. D. Windt, P. D. Bezemer. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 2002

977 citations recorded by the source corpus.

BackgroundAlthough guidelines for critical appraisal of diagnostic research and meta-analyses have already been published, these may be difficult to understand for clinical researchers or do not provide enough detailed information.MethodsDevelopment of guidelines based on a systematic review of the evidence in reports of systematic searches of the literature for diagnostic research, of methodological criteria to evaluate diagnostic research, of methods for statistical pooling of data on diagnostic accuracy, and of methods for exploring heterogeneity.ResultsGuidelines for conducting diagnostic systematic reviews are presented in a stepwise fashion and are followed by comments providing further information. Examples are given using the results of two systematic reviews on the accuracy of the urine dipstick in the diagnosis of urinary tract infections, and on the accuracy of the straight-leg-raising test in the diagnosis of intervertebral disc hernia.

Subfields: Occupational Therapy, Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health, Statistics and Probability

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In Occupational Therapy

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Citations in the corpus

A systematic review of tests predicting ovarian reserve and IVF outcome. (2006, background): “…estimate of the test accuracy and clinical value based on all present evidence, after assessing the quality of the included studies and evaluating the variation in findings among the studies (Irwig et al ., 1995; Deeks, 2001; Deville et al ., 2002; Honest and Khan, 2002; Glas et al ., 2003).”
Optimal cut-off score for diagnosing depression with the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9): a meta-analysis (2012, methodology): “We based our assessment of quality on current guidelines for evaluating diagnostic studies.(11) We followed the quality ratings used in other studies of the diagnostic characteristics of psychological measures to generate our quality assessment criteria.”
A diagnostic meta-analysis of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) algorithm scoring method as a screen for depression. (2015, methodology): “We used systematic review and meta-analytic techniques to summarize the diagnostic properties of the PHQ-9 for MDD using the algorithm [8,9].”
A systematic review and meta-analyses on C-reactive protein in relation to periodontitis. (2008, methodology): “Search strategy We performed the electronic search according to the most recent recommendations (Midgette et al. 1993, Deville et al. 2002, Cochrane CollaborationCochrane Methods Group on Systematic Review of Screening and Diagnostic Tests Recommended methods www. cochrane.org/docs/sadt.htm).”
A unification of models for meta-analysis of diagnostic accuracy studies. (2007, background): “There is increasing interest in systematic reviews and meta-analyses of data from diagnostic accuracy studies (Deeks, 2001; Deville et al., 2002; Bossuyt et al., 2003; Khan et al., 2003; Whiting et al., 2004; Tatsioni et al., 2005; Gluud and Gluud, 2005).”
Metandi: Meta-analysis of Diagnostic Accuracy Using Hierarchical Logistic Regression (2009, background): “There is increasing interest in systematic reviews and meta-analyses of data from diagnostic accuracy studies (Deeks 2001b; Devillé et al. 2002; Tatsioni et al. 2005; Gluud and Gluud 2005; Mallett et al. 2006; Gatsonis and Paliwal 2006), which presents many additional challenges compared to more…”
Screening for Depression in Medical Settings with the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ): A Diagnostic Meta-Analysis (2007, methodology): “We also calculated the diagnostic odds ratio (DOR): the ratio of the odds of a positive test among those with the disorder to the odds of a positive result among those without the disorder.(13,24) This is the recommended metric in diagnostic meta-analyses.”
Performance of the aspartate aminotransferase‐to‐platelet ratio index for the staging of hepatitis C‐related fibrosis: An updated meta‐analysis (2011, methodology): “An electronic search was completed on PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library (01/2003-04/ 2010) including the following search terms: APRI, AST-to-platelet ratio index, AST, platelet, hepatitis C, and noninvasive fibrosis markers, and serum markers of liver fibrosis.(10) The language was limited t”
Bivariate analysis of sensitivity and specificity produces informative summary measures in diagnostic reviews. (2005, methodology): “This simplifies the overall approach to meta-anal as outlined in recent guidelines [17,35].”