Yoo 2005.

Study characteristics
Patient sampling	Prospective; consecutive series of patients. Possible cases were regarded as non‐IA
Patient characteristics and setting	14 participants No information about age or gender Korea Neutropenic adults with fever that did not respond to antibiotic therapy Inpatients, monitoring of clinical course Representative spectrum? Yes: neutropenic adults with fever that did not respond to antibiotic therapy
Index tests	PlateliaAspergillus. Blood samples were usually obtained twice a week until the patient recovered from neutropenia. 2 consecutive positive samples was considered as a positive result. No explanation of negative result. Many different cut‐off values analysed
Target condition and reference standard(s)	Invasive aspergillosis, as defined by EORTC criteria, Ascioglu 2002 cited. In analyses proven and probable versus possible and no IA Incorporation avoided? Not explicitly stated that galactomannan results were excluded from EORTC criteria Acceptable reference standard? Yes: EORTC criteria (Ascioglu 2002)
Flow and timing	Time: until recovering from neutropenia Partial verification avoided? Unclear: not entirely clear whether all patients were classified according to the reference criteria Withdrawals explained? Yes Uninterpretable results reported? No: not reported
Comparative
No patients per category	2 proven or probable, 12 possible or no IA
Notes	ROC curve provided Sponsoring precluded? Yes: financial support by the Korean Research 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?	Unclear
		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?	No
		High	Unclear
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?	Unclear
		Unclear	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
		Low