Systematic Reviews in Diagnostic Studies

Course goals

ALL PARTICIPANTS WILL BE PLACED ON THE WAITING LIST UNTIL TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE START OF THE COURSE

GRADUATE STUDENTS:
Please be aware that you can only select a course option that shows the academic year and is offered Face-to-Face (F2F)

POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS:
Please be aware that you can only select a course option that shows the academic year and is offered Face-to-Face (F2F)  or online (depending on your registration)

(FYI: the other options are options for Continuing Education (onderwijs voor professionals))

At the end of the course, the participant is able to:

• Explain the rationale for performing a systematic review of diagnostic studies
• List the key steps of a systematic review of diagnostic studies
• Formulate a focused review question addressing a diagnostic problem
• Understand the key issues when building a proper search strategy to identify relevant  diagnostic studies in electronic bibliographic databases
• Explain the main types of bias in a diagnostic study
• Assess the risk of bias in a diagnostic study using the QUADAS-2 instrument
• Explain in words the assumptions of the bivariate random effects model for meta-analyzing diagnostic accuracy data
• Interpret the results of the bivariate model with and without covariates
• Fit basic bivariate random effects models in statistical package R
• Interpret the main findings of a review in light of the review question(s) 
• List the key advantages of individual participant data meta-analysis compared to traditional aggregate meta-analysis in the diagnostic setting

Content

Contact details: Educational Office Epidemiology
E-mail: msc-epidemiology@umcutrecht.nl

Registration:
Face-to-Face: You can register for this course via Osiris Student. More information about the registration procedure can be found here on the Students' site. NOTE Students of the MSc Epidemiology (Post Graduate) that register in time (i.e. at least two weeks before the start of a course) will always be admitted to the course unless it is completely full. Other students will receive information about their application two weeks before the start of the course.
Online: Online courses are only available for Epidemiology Postgraduate students and can register via Osiris Student. More information about the registration procedure can be found here on the Students' site.

Course coordinator:
Dr. J.B. (Hans) Reitsma, UMC Utrecht, Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, Utrecht, the Netherlands

Course description:
The number of primary studies evaluating diagnostic tests is rising. Critically summarizing such studies in a systematic review is beneficial for health care professionals seeking the best evidence about the use of diagnostic tests. Reviews of diagnostic studies are more challenging because of more variation in questions & designs, specific sources of bias & variation, and the need to use more complex statistical approaches to meta-analysis. Several advances have recently been made in the methods to perform such reviews. In this course we discuss and practice the methods to assess the methodological quality of primary diagnostic test accuracy studies (QUADAS-2 instrument), the statistical models to meta-analyze the paired measures of test accuracy (bivariate meta-regression model of sensitivity and specificity), and how to critically read and interpret the findings of systematic review of diagnostic studies. The course consists of plenary presentations, small-group discussions, and computer exercises using the statistical software package R.

Literature/study material used:
-
  
Mandatory for students in own Master’s programme:
MIght be for a specialization programme of Epidemiology & Epidemiology Postgraduate
 
Optional for students in other GSLS Master’s programme:
Yes
 
Prerequisite knowledge:
Classical Methods in Data Analysis
Modern Methods in Data Analysis (preferred)
Advanced Diagnostic (preferred)