Cartocci 2020.
Study characteristics | |||
Patient Sampling | Study design: patients with suspected COVID‐19, all symptomatic | ||
Patient characteristics and setting | Age group: adults only Setting: outpatient |
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Index tests | Index test(s): chest CT, no further details provided Definition for positive diagnosis on CT: classification system by Simpson et al.: typical CT pattern, possible CT pattern, inconsistent CT pattern, negative for pneumonia (Simpson 2020) Level of training of readers: radiologist Prevalence: 0.5 |
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Target condition and reference standard(s) | Reference standard: RT‐PCR once; twice in some | ||
Flow and timing | |||
Comparative | |||
Notes | |||
Methodological quality | |||
Item | Authors' judgement | Risk of bias | Applicability concerns |
DOMAIN 1: Patient Selection | |||
Was a consecutive or random sample of patients enrolled? | Unclear | ||
Was a case‐control design avoided? | Yes | ||
Did the study avoid inappropriate exclusions? | Unclear | ||
Could the selection of patients have introduced bias? | Unclear risk | ||
Are there concerns that the included patients and setting do not match the review question? | Low concern | ||
DOMAIN 2: Index Test (Chest CT) | |||
Were the index test results interpreted without knowledge of the results of the reference standard? | Yes | ||
If a threshold was used, was it pre‐specified? | Yes | ||
Could the conduct or interpretation of the index test have introduced bias? | Low risk | ||
Are there concerns that the index test, its conduct, or interpretation differ from the review question? | Low concern | ||
DOMAIN 2: Index Test (Chest X‐ray) | |||
DOMAIN 2: Index Test (Ultrasound of the lungs) | |||
DOMAIN 3: Reference Standard | |||
Is the reference standards likely to correctly classify the target condition? | Unclear | ||
Were the reference standard results interpreted without knowledge of the results of the index tests? | Unclear | ||
Could the reference standard, its conduct, or its interpretation have introduced bias? | Unclear risk | ||
Are there concerns that the target condition as defined by the reference standard does not match the question? | Low concern | ||
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? | Yes | ||
Could the patient flow have introduced bias? | Low risk |