Meta-analysis of diagnostic test studies

The methodology to be followed to do a systematic review with meta-analysis on intervention studies is quite standardized and is, in general, well known by medical literature consumers. On the other hand it is more and more frequent finding a different kind of meta-analysis: the one on diagnostic tests. Although the general recommendations to perform them are similar to those of meta-analysis on interventions, they have specific aspects important to be well known in order to be able to understand them properly. We highlight for instance the study of the threshold effect, the methods of selecting summary measures and the way to present the global finding as a ROC curve summary.