Kilic 2008.

Study characteristics
Patient sampling	Consecutive enrolment of patients with suspected VL
Patient characteristics and setting	Sample size: 59 Age (data available for 24 VL patients): median age 7 years; 22/24 cases <14 years Sex: 71% men Presenting signs and symptoms: prolonged fever + splenomegaly or hepatomegaly + anaemia/pancytopenia Frequency of VL: 41% HIV: not reported Clinical setting: tertiary care centre Country: Turkey Endemic Leishmania species:L. infantum
Index tests	Type: FAST; Brand: not applicable; Sample: serum
Target condition and reference standard(s)	Target condition: clinical VL Sample: bone marrow Technique: direct smear (Giemsa stain) and culture Reference standard category: parasitology not including spleen aspirate ‐ no serology
Flow and timing	No information about exclusion
Comparative
Notes
Methodological quality
Item	Authors' judgement	Risk of bias	Applicability concerns
DOMAIN 1: Patient Selection
Was a consecutive or random sample of patients enrolled?	Unclear
Was a case‐control design avoided?	Yes
Did the study avoid inappropriate exclusions?	Unclear
		Unclear	Low
DOMAIN 2: Index Test All tests
Were the index test results interpreted without knowledge of the results of the reference standard?	Unclear
		Unclear	Low
DOMAIN 3: Reference Standard
Is the reference standards likely to correctly classify the target condition?	No
Were the reference standard results interpreted without knowledge of the results of the index tests?	Unclear
		High	Low
DOMAIN 4: Flow and Timing
Was there an appropriate interval between index test and reference standard?	Yes
Did all patients receive the same reference standard?	Yes
Were all patients included in the analysis?	Unclear
Did all patients receive a reference standard?	Yes
		Unclear