Extension of receiver operating characteristic analysis to data concerning multiple signal detection tasks.
OBJECTIVE
When receiver operating characteristic (ROC) studies involve multiple detection tasks in the same patient, the correlations among the within-patient interpretations and the shortage of patients raise several analytic challenges. The authors propose methods for both parametric and nonparametric analysis of this type of data.


METHODS
First, they computed one accuracy statistic for each task. Then one jackknife "pseudovalue" was calculated for each task and each patient. Then, they formed a summary index from the accuracy statistics and calculated the standard error of this summary index on the basis of the observed correlations among the jackknife pseudovalues. The method was extended to comparisons of two diagnostic systems and illustrated by using data from a clinical study.


CONCLUSIONS
This approach can be used with rating or quantitative data and with any index of accuracy, whether calculated parametrically or nonparametrically.
Hajian-Tilaki
K O
KO
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
Hanley
J A
JA
Joseph
L
L
Collet
J P
JP
D000792:Angiography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001416:Back Pain / Q000175:diagnosis; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015588:Observer Variation; D012372:ROC Curve; D011861:Radiography, Dental / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results