Table 3.
Quality assessment of the included studies using the “QUADAS” questionnaire
| QUADAS questionnaire | Klintworth et al 2012 [8] | Yerli et al 2012 [24] | Badea et al 2013 [16] | Celebi and Mahmutoglu 2013 [17] | Wierzbicka et al 2013 [19] | Yu et al 2016 [20] | Altinbas et al 2017 [15] | Cantisani et al 2017 [7] | Herman et al 2017 [6] | Mansour et al 2017 [18] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1: Was the spectrum of patient representative of the patients who will receive the test in practice? | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2: Were selection criteria clearly described? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 3: Is the reference standard likely to correctly classify the target condition? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 4: Is the time period between reference standard and index test short enough to be sure that the target condition did not change between the two tests? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 5: Did the whole sample, or a random selection of the sample, receive verification using a reference standard of diagnosis? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 6: Did patients receive the same reference standard regardless of the index test result? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 7: Was the reference standard independent of the index test (i.e., the index test did not form part of the reference standard)? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 8: Was the execution of the index test described in sufficient detail to permit replication of the test? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 9: Was the execution of the reference standard described in sufficient detail to permit replication? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 10: Were the index test results interpreted without knowledge of the results of the reference standard? | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Unclear | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 11: Were the reference standard results interpreted without knowledge of the results of the index test? | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| 12: Were the same clinical data available when test results were interpreted as would be available when the test is used in practice? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 13: Were un-interpretable/intermediate test results reported? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 14: Were withdrawals from the study explained? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| QUADAS score | 12.5 | 13.5 | 12.5 | 13.5 | 13.5 | 13 | 13.5 | 13.5 | 13.5 | 13.5 |