Department of Radiology-Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Eur Radiol. 2018 Sep;28(9):3632-3639. doi: 10.1007/s00330-018-5354-x. Epub 2018 Mar 21.
The objective of this study was to evaluate whether higher reported accuracy estimates are associated with shorter time to publication among imaging diagnostic accuracy studies.
We included primary imaging diagnostic accuracy studies, included in meta-analyses from systematic reviews published in 2015. For each primary study, we extracted accuracy estimates, participant recruitment periods and publication dates. Our primary outcome was the association between Youden's index (sensitivity + specificity - 1, a single measure of diagnostic accuracy) and time to publication.
We included 55 systematic reviews and 781 primary studies. Study completion dates were missing for 238 (30%) studies. The median time from completion to publication in the remaining 543 studies was 20 months (IQR 14-29). Youden's index was negatively correlated with time from completion to publication (rho = -0.11, p = 0.009). This association remained significant in multivariable Cox regression analyses after adjusting for seven study characteristics: hazard ratio of publication was 1.09 (95% CI 1.03-1.16, p = 0.004) per unit increase for logit-transformed estimates of Youden's index. When dichotomizing Youden's index by a median split, time from completion to publication was 20 months (IQR 13-33) for studies with a Youden's index below the median, and 19 months (14-27) for studies with a Youden's index above the median (p = 0.104).
Imaging diagnostic accuracy studies with higher accuracy estimates were weakly associated with a shorter time to publication.
• Higher accuracy estimates are weakly associated with shorter time to publication. • Lag in time to publication remained significant in multivariate Cox regression analyses. • No correlation between accuracy and time from submission to publication was identified.
本研究旨在评估影像学诊断准确性研究中报告的准确性估计值较高是否与发表时间较短相关。
我们纳入了 2015 年发表的系统评价中的主要影像学诊断准确性研究。对于每一项原始研究，我们提取了准确性估计值、参与者招募期和出版日期。我们的主要结局是约登指数（灵敏度+特异度-1，单一诊断准确性衡量指标）与发表时间之间的关系。
我们纳入了 55 项系统评价和 781 项主要研究。有 238 项（30%）研究的研究完成日期缺失。在其余 543 项研究中，从完成到出版的中位时间为 20 个月（IQR 14-29）。约登指数与从完成到出版的时间呈负相关（rho=-0.11，p=0.009）。在调整了 7 项研究特征后，多变量 Cox 回归分析仍然显示这种相关性显著：约登指数对数变换估计值每增加一个单位，出版的风险比为 1.09（95%CI 1.03-1.16，p=0.004）。当以中位数分割将约登指数二分法时，约登指数低于中位数的研究从完成到出版的时间为 20 个月（IQR 13-33），而约登指数高于中位数的研究为 19 个月（14-27）（p=0.104）。
准确性估计值较高的影像学诊断准确性研究与发表时间较短之间存在弱相关性。
较高的准确性估计值与较短的发表时间弱相关。
多变量 Cox 回归分析中，发表时间滞后仍然显著。
未发现准确性与提交至发表时间之间的相关性。
