Study characteristics |
Patient Sampling |
Serum BDG collected weekly as part of a prospective study |
Patient characteristics and setting |
Adult hematological patients at high risk for invasive aspergillosis. There were 149 episodes occurring among 96 consecutive patients; of these, 11 were cases of proven or probable invasive aspergillosis. The mean age of patients was 45 years, and 70% were male |
Index tests |
Wako test using multiple cut‐offs for positivity, including 2, 3, 5, and 11 pg/mL |
Target condition and reference standard(s) |
Invasive aspergillosis determined by the 2002 EORTC criteria |
Flow and timing |
Unclear time frame between sample and reference standard; all received index test and reference standard and were included in the analysis |
Comparative |
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Notes |
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Methodological quality |
Item |
Authors' judgement |
Risk of bias |
Applicability concerns |
DOMAIN 1: Patient Selection |
Was a consecutive or random sample of patients enrolled? |
Yes |
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Was a case‐control design avoided? |
Yes |
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Did the study avoid inappropriate exclusions? |
Yes |
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Could the selection of patients have introduced bias? |
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Low risk |
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Are there concerns that the included patients and setting do not match the review question? |
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Low concern |
DOMAIN 3: Reference Standard |
Is the reference standards likely to correctly classify the target condition? |
Yes |
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Were the reference standard results interpreted without knowledge of the results of the index tests? |
Unclear |
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Could the reference standard, its conduct, or its interpretation have introduced bias? |
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Low risk |
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Are there concerns that the target condition as defined by the reference standard does not match the question? |
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Low concern |
DOMAIN 4: Flow and Timing |
Was there an appropriate interval between index test and reference standard? |
Unclear |
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Did all patients receive the same reference standard? |
Yes |
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Were all patients included in the analysis? |
Yes |
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Could the patient flow have introduced bias? |
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Low risk |
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