Journal of clinical epidemiology
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To develop an approach by which studies describing the accuracy of diagnostic tests or clinical predictions can be combined in a meta-analysis, even though studies may report their results using different summary measures. ⋯ This paper provides an accessible method that permits the meta-analyst to overcome some of the difficulties implied by incomplete and inconsistent reporting of research studies in this area. It allows all studies to be included on the same metric, which in turn more easily permits exploration of issues such as heterogeneity. The method can readily be used for meta-analyses of diagnostic or screening tests, or for prediction data.