ASSESSING QUALITY OF SELECTED STUDIESTEST ACCURACY STUDIES CONSIST...

3. ASSESSING QUALITY OF SELECTED STUDIES

Test accuracy studies consist of non-randomised observational studies of defined

populations in which the results of the test of interest are compared with the results

of a gold standard. These may be prospective or cross-sectional studies. In such

studies, methodological quality may be defined as the confidence that the study

design, conduct and analysis has minimised biases in estimating the accuracy of the

test in question. Variations in study quality may be one source of different results

between studies. The extent to which primary research meets methodological

standards will influence the strength of any practice recommendations from the

review and help make recommendations to improve future studies.

There are several tools available to assess the quality of test accuracy studies (8, 9,