Table 3.
Summary of clinical characteristics and sensitivity and specificity of the studies included in the meta-analysis
| Type of test | No. of studies | No. of patients | Mean age (years) | Proportion of men (%) | History of CAD (%) | Proportion of DM (%) | Sensitivity (%; 95% CI) | Specificity (%; 95% CI) |
| Radionuclide ventriculography | 8 | 532 | 67.0 | 83 | 45 | 25 | 50 (32 to 69) | 91 (87 to 96) |
| Ambulatory electrocardiography | 8 | 893 | 68.0 | 72 | 55 | 32 | 52 (21 to 84) | 70 (57 to 83) |
| Exercise electrocardiography | 7 | 685 | 64.5 | 72 | 36 | 28 | 74 (60 to 88) | 69 (60 to 78) |
| Dipyridamole stress echocardiography | 4 | 850 | 66.8 | 78 | 28 | 33 | 74 (53 to 94) | 86 (80 to 93) |
| Myocardial perfusion scintigraphy | 23 | 3119 | 65.5 | 78 | 40 | 30 | 83 (77 to 89) | 49 (41 to 57) |
| Dobutamine stress echocardiography | 8 | 1877 | 67.3 | 76 | 37 | 16 | 85 (74 to 97) | 70 (62 to 79) |
Tests are sorted according to ascending sensitivities.
CAD, coronary artery disease; CI, confidence interval; DM, diabetes mellitus.