EDITORIAL

QUALITY OF DIAGNOSTIC STUDIES

Evidence about evidence

B C Reeves

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr Barney C Reeves
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK; barney.reeves@lshtm.ac.uk

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The quality of evaluations of diagnostic test performance

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Keywords: diagnostic accuracy studies; ophthalmic journals; quality of reporting

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In this issue of the BJO (p 261), Siddiqui et al review the compliance of researchers with quality standards for evaluations of diagnostic test performance (DTP). "Standards" were originally set by the McMaster evidence based medicine (EBM) group^1,2 and they have continued to evolve over recent years. Unfortunately, the standards appear to have had little impact since reviews of recent evaluations have shown that they tend to be of poor quality, in medicine generally and in ophthalmology and other specialties.^3–6 The review of Siddiqui et al confirms this gloomy picture.

In contrast, during the same period, there has been substantial improvement in the quality and reporting of evaluations of the effectiveness of treatments. Why has research to evaluate DTP not benefited in a similar way from the EBM "movement"? Perhaps improving the quality of research about effectiveness was seen as a priority because it was . . . [Full text of this article]

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Relevant Article

The quality of reporting of diagnostic accuracy studies published in ophthalmic journals

M A R Siddiqui, A Azuara-Blanco, and J Burr
Br. J. Ophthalmol. 2005 89: 261-265. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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