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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
medicine
An empirical comparison of methods for meta-analysis of diagnostic accuracy showed hierarchical models are necessary
Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, Volume 61, No. 11, Year 2008
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Description
Objective: Meta-analysis of studies of the accuracy of diagnostic tests currently uses a variety of methods. Statistically rigorous hierarchical models require expertise and sophisticated software. We assessed whether any of the simpler methods can in practice give adequately accurate and reliable results. Study Design and Setting: We reviewed six methods for meta-analysis of diagnostic accuracy: four simple commonly used methods (simple pooling, separate random-effects meta-analyses of sensitivity and specificity, separate meta-analyses of positive and negative likelihood ratios, and the Littenberg-Moses summary receiver operating characteristic [ROC] curve) and two more statistically rigorous approaches using hierarchical models (bivariate random-effects meta-analysis and hierarchical summary ROC curve analysis). We applied the methods to data from a sample of eight systematic reviews chosen to illustrate a variety of patterns of results. Results: In each meta-analysis, there was substantial heterogeneity between the results of different studies. Simple pooling of results gave misleading summary estimates of sensitivity and specificity in some meta-analyses, and the Littenberg-Moses method produced summary ROC curves that diverged from those produced by more rigorous methods in some situations. Conclusion: The closely related hierarchical summary ROC curve or bivariate models should be used as the standard method for meta-analysis of diagnostic accuracy. © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Authors & Co-Authors
Whiting, Penny F.
United Kingdom, Bristol
University of Bristol
Sterne, Jonathan A.C.
United Kingdom, Bristol
University of Bristol
Egger, Matthias
Switzerland, Bern
University of Bern
Deeks, Jonathan J.
United Kingdom, Birmingham
University of Birmingham
Bachmann, Lucas M.
Switzerland, Zurich
Universität Zürich
Statistics
Citations: 163
Authors: 5
Affiliations: 4
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1016/j.jclinepi.2007.09.013
ISSN:
08954356
Research Areas
Genetics And Genomics
Study Approach
Systematic review