Cochrane diagnostic test accuracy reviews

Abstract

In 1996, shortly after the founding of The Cochrane Collaboration, leading figures in test evaluation research established a Methods Group to focus on the relatively new and rapidly evolving methods for the systematic review of studies of diagnostic tests. Seven years later, the Collaboration decided it was time to develop a publication format and methodology for Diagnostic Test Accuracy (DTA) reviews, as well as the software needed to implement these reviews in The Cochrane Library. A meeting hosted by the German Cochrane Centre in 2004 brought together key methodologists in the area, many of whom became closely involved in the subsequent development of the methodological framework for DTA reviews. DTA reviews first appeared in The Cochrane Library in 2008 and are now an integral part of the work of the Collaboration.

Figure 1

Summary receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) plots showing test accuracy of cytology for detecting primary bladder cancer [32]. A) The summary ROC curve, representing the underlying relationship between sensitivity and specificity for the test across varying thresholds. B) The summary sensitivity and specificity and a 95% confidence region around it. The smaller oval shaped symbols in both graphs show the individual study results, with the height of the symbol representing the number of diseased individuals and the width of the ovals representing the number of non-diseased individuals.