Table 2.

Studies characteristics

			Goda 2015	Nagami 2014	Takahashi 2014	Wang 2014	Ide 2013	Kawai 2012	Ide 2011	Lecleire 2011	Takenaka 2009	Huang 2009	Lee 2009	Kuraoka 2009
PATIENT SELECTION	Signaling questions	Was a consecutive or random sample of patients enrolled?	Yes	Unclear	Unclear	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear	Yes	Unclear
		Was a case-control design avoided?	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
		Did the study avoided inappropriate exclusions?	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Unclear
	Risk of bias	Could the selection of patients have introduced bias?	Low	Low	Low	Low	Low	Moderate	Low	Low	Low	Moderate	Low	Moderate
	Concerns regarding applicability	Are there concerns that the included patients do not match the review question?	Low	Low	Low	Low	Low	High	Low	Low	Low	High	Low	Low
INDEX TEST	Signaling questions	Were the index test results interpreted without knowledge of the results of the reference standard?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unclear	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
		If a threshold was used, was it prespecified?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Risk of bias	Could the conduct or interpretation of the index test have introduced bias?	Low	Low	Low	Low	Low	Moderate	Low	Low	Low	Moderate	Low	Low
	Concerns regarding applicability	Are there concerns that the index test, its conduct, or its interpretation differ from the review question?	High	Low	High	Low	Low	Unclear	Low	Low	Low	Low	Low	Low
REFERENCE STANDARD	Signaling questions	Is the reference standard likely to correctly classify the target condition?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Unclear
		Were the references standard results interpreted without knowledge of the results of the index test?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear	Yes	Yes	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear
	Risk of bias	Could the reference standard, its conduct, or its interpretation have introduced bias?	Low	Low	Low	Low	Low	High	Low	Low	Low	High	Low	Unclear
	Concerns regarding applicability	Are there concerns that the target condition as defined by the reference standard does not match the review question?	Low	Low	Low	Low	Low	High	Low	Low	Low	High	Low	Unclear
FLOW AND TIMING	Signaling questions	Was there an appropriate interval between index test(s) and reference standard?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
		Did all patients receive a reference standard?	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Unclear	No	Unclear
		Did all patients receive the same reference standard?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
		Were all patients included in the analysis?	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Unclear
	Risk of bias	Could the patient flow have introduced bias?	Moderate	Moderate	Low	Moderate	Moderate	High	Moderate	Low	High	Low	Moderate	Low