Summary
Despite the large availability of diagnostic tests and procedures and their importance to medicine, evidence for their appropriate use is often limited. Unfortunately, the evaluation of tests is difficult and susceptible to several forms of bias. This paper describes the standard methods for characterizing and comparing the accuracy of diagnostic tests and addresses initiatives such as STARD and QUADAS to improve the quality of diagnostic studies. We inform the reader how to critically appraise the study results and when to rely on the results of diagnostic accuracy studies or randomised clinical trials.
Zusammenfassung
Trotz der hohen Verfügbarkeit von diagnostischen Tests und Verfahren und ihrer Wichtigkeit für den medizinischen Versorgungsalltag, gibt es nur wenig Evidenz dafür, dass diese auch richtig und angemessen eingesetzt werden. Die Evaluierung von diagnostischen Verfahren ist insgesamt aber schwierig und anfällig für verschiedene Arten von Bias. Dieser Beitrag befasst sich mit den Standardmethoden zur Beschreibung der diagnostischen Genauigkeit von Tests und stellt Initiativen wie STARD und QUADAS vor, die helfen sollen, die methodische Qualität von diagnostischen Studien zu verbessern. Dem Leser soll vermittelt werden, wie diese Studien kritisch bewertet werden können sowie für welche Fragestellungen auf die Ergebnisse von diagnostischen Genauigkeitsstudien oder randomisierten klinische Studien zu vertrauen ist.
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Felder-Puig, R., Mad, P. & Gartlehner, G. Diagnostische Studien. Wien Med Wochenschr 159, 359–366 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10354-008-0572-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10354-008-0572-5
Keywords
- Evidence-based diagnostics
- Diagnostic accuracy studies
- Critical appraisal
- Randomised clinical trials for diagnostic procedures