Development of an interactive web-based tool to conduct and interrogate meta-analysis of diagnostic test accuracy studies: MetaDTA
Development of an interactive web-based tool to conduct and interrogate meta-analysis of diagnostic test accuracy studies: MetaDTA
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DOI：
10.1186/s12874-019-0724-x
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发表时间：
2019-04-18
影响因子：
4
通讯作者：
Sutton, Alex J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Freeman, Suzanne C.;Kerby, Clareece R.;Sutton, Alex J.
背景推荐的诊断测试准确性研究荟萃分析的统计方法需要相对复杂的双变量统计模型，这对于非统计学家来说可能是一个障碍。另一个障碍存在于可用于拟合此类模型的软件选项中。非统计学家可以使用的软件（例如 RevMan）不支持二元模型的拟合，因此用户必须寻求统计支持才能使用 R、Stata 或 SAS。 Web 技术的最新进展使分析工具的创建比以前简单得多。除了可访问性之外，在线工具还可以提供其他软件包中所没有的定制交互性，从而允许从简单的界面显示数据的多个视角并根据用户的偏好定制信息。我们的目标是： (i) 开发一个免费的基于网络的点击式交互式工具，允许用户输入其 DTA 研究数据并对 DTA 审查进行荟萃分析，包括敏感性分析。 (ii) 使用现有的 DTA 荟萃分析来说明用于检测痴呆症的交互式应用程序的功能和优点。方法为了创建我们的在线免费交互式应用程序，我们使用现有的 R 包 lme4 和 Shiny 来分析数据并分别创建交互式用户界面。ResultsMetaDTA，一个交互式在线应用程序，用于对 DTA 研究进行荟萃分析。用户界面被设计为易于导航，具有用于不同功能的不同选项卡。功能包括用户能够输入自己的数据、自定义绘图、合并质量评估结果以及快速进行敏感性分析。生成的所有绘图都可以导出为 .png 或 .pdf 文件，以包含在报告文档中。所有表格都可以导出为 .csv 文件。ConclusionsMetaDTA 是一款免费的交互式在线应用程序，可对 DTA 研究进行荟萃分析、绘制汇总 ROC 曲线、纳入质量评估结果并允许及时进行敏感性分析。由于该软件具有丰富的功能集和用户友好性，它应该会吸引广泛的受众，包括那些没有专业统计知识的人。我们鼓励其他人为专业分析方法创建类似的应用程序，以鼓励更广泛的采用，从而提高研究质量。
BackgroundRecommended statistical methods for meta-analysis of diagnostic test accuracy studies require relatively complex bivariate statistical models which can be a barrier for non-statisticians. A further barrier exists in the software options available for fitting such models. Software accessible to non-statisticians, such as RevMan, does not support the fitting of bivariate models thus users must seek statistical support to use R, Stata or SAS. Recent advances in web technologies make analysis tool creation much simpler than previously. As well as accessibility, online tools can allow tailored interactivity not found in other packages allowing multiple perspectives of data to be displayed and information to be tailored to the user's preference from a simple interface. We set out to: (i) Develop a freely available web-based point and click interactive tool which allows users to input their DTA study data and conduct meta-analyses for DTA reviews, including sensitivity analyses. (ii) Illustrate the features and benefits of the interactive application using an existing DTA meta-analysis for detecting dementia.MethodsTo create our online freely available interactive application we used the existing R packages lme4 and Shiny to analyse the data and create an interactive user interface respectively.ResultsMetaDTA, an interactive online application was created for conducting meta-analysis of DTA studies. The user interface was designed to be easy to navigate having different tabs for different functions. Features include the ability for users to enter their own data, customise plots, incorporate quality assessment results and quickly conduct sensitivity analyses. All plots produced can be exported as either .png or .pdf files to be included in report documents. All tables can be exported as .csv files.ConclusionsMetaDTA, is a freely available interactive online application which meta-analyses DTA studies, plots the summary ROC curve, incorporates quality assessment results and allows for sensitivity analyses to be conducted in a timely manner. Due to the rich feature-set and user-friendliness of the software it should appeal to a wide audience including those without specialist statistical knowledge. We encourage others to create similar applications for specialist analysis methods to encourage broader uptake which in-turn could improve research quality.