Objectives:

To provide participants with an understanding of how results of Cochrane Diagnostic test accuracy (DTA) reviews can be presented and interpreted. At the end of the workshop, participants will have been introduced into various ways of presenting DTA results to help end-users to understand better the results of a DTA review.

Description:

Meta-analysis of diagnostic test accuracy studies is complex and the results of such a meta-analysis are not readily understandable. Interpretation of test results should be done in view of the purpose of the test(s), the position of the test in diagnostic process and the amount of heterogeneity that is present. Theworkshopwill start with a brief introduction about interpretation of diagnostic tests and strategies for their use in quantitative decision making. In small groups the participants will first interpret the quality of the body of evidence of a Cochrane DTA review. Then they will have to translate and interpret the results of various ways of how results of a DTA meta-analysis may be presented. Topics included are SROC-curves, confidence ellipses around summary estimates of sensitivity and specificity, Summary of Results Tables and pretest-posttest graphs.