Rovira 2004.

Study characteristics
Patient sampling	Prospective; consecutive series of patients
Patient characteristics and setting	74 participants Age ranged from 15 to 60 years 61% males Spain Adults undergoing allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation in institution and adult outpatients receiving immunosuppressive therapy. Inpatients were screened twice weekly; outpatients weekly, if possible Representative spectrum? Yes: adults undergoing allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation
Index tests	Platelia. Serum was monitored twice a week until discharge or death. Outpatients were monitored weekly where possible. Positive was above 1.5 and negative was below 1.0. In between was undetermined. Total of 832 samples from 74 patients. Positive was one or more positive; negative was all negative
Target condition and reference standard(s)	Invasive aspergillosis, as defined by EORTC criteria (Ascioglu 2002) Incorporation avoided? Yes: Aspergillus galactomannan antigen test results were excluded as microbiologic criteria Acceptable reference standard? Yes: EORTC criteria (Ascioglu 2002)
Flow and timing	Time interval not reported Partial verification avoided? Yes: all patients were classified according to reference criteria Withdrawals explained? Unclear Uninterpretable results reported? Yes: when a sample was undetermined, an additional sample was immediately tested
Comparative
No patients per category	1 proven, 5 probable, 2 possible, 66 no IA
Notes	Clinical course and timelines for 8 patients Sponsoring? Governance funds and a leukaemia foundation
Methodological quality
Item	Authors' judgement	Risk of bias	Applicability concerns
DOMAIN 1: Patient Selection
Was a consecutive or random sample of patients enrolled?	Yes
Was a case‐control design avoided?	Yes
Did the study avoid inappropriate exclusions?	Yes
		Low	Low
DOMAIN 2: Index Test All tests
Were the index test results interpreted without knowledge of the results of the reference standard?	Unclear
If a threshold was used, was it pre‐specified?	Yes
		Low	Low
DOMAIN 3: Reference Standard
Is the reference standards likely to correctly classify the target condition?	Yes
Were the reference standard results interpreted without knowledge of the results of the index tests?	Yes
		Low	Low
DOMAIN 4: Flow and Timing
Was there an appropriate interval between index test and reference standard?	Unclear
Did all patients receive the same reference standard?	Yes
Were all patients included in the analysis?	Yes
		Low