articleStatistics in MedicineApr 10, 2002Closed access

Properties of the summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve for diagnostic test data

SDStephen D. Walter

McMaster University

PubMed
Indexed incrossrefpubmed

Abstract

The summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve has been recommended to represent the performance of a diagnostic test, based on data from a meta-analysis. However, little is known about the basic properties of the SROC curve or its estimate. In this paper, the position of the SROC curve is characterized in terms of the overall diagnostic odds ratio and the magnitude of inter-study heterogeneity in the odds ratio. The area under the curve (AUC) and an index Q(*) are discussed as potentially useful summaries of the curve. It is shown that AUC is maximized when the study odds ratios are homogeneous, and that it is quite robust to heterogeneity. An upper bound is derived for AUC based on an exact…

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Topics & keywords

Topics
Keywords
  • Receiver operating characteristic
  • Diagnostic odds ratio
  • Area under the curve
  • Statistics
  • Homogeneous
  • Meta-analysis
  • Odds ratio
  • Area under curve
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