Comparison of discriminatory power and accuracy of three lung cancer risk models.
BACKGROUND
Three lung cancer (LC) models have recently been constructed to predict an individual's absolute risk of LC within a defined period. Given their potential application in prevention strategies, a comparison of their accuracy in an independent population is important.


METHODS
We used data for 3197 patients with LC and 1703 cancer-free controls recruited to an ongoing case-control study at the Harvard School of Public Health and Massachusetts General Hospital. We estimated the 5-year LC risk for each risk model and compared the discriminatory power, accuracy, and clinical utility of these models.


RESULTS
Overall, the Liverpool Lung Project (LLP) and Spitz models had comparable discriminatory power (0.69), whereas the Bach model had significantly lower power (0.66; P=0.02). Positive predictive values were highest with the Spitz models, whereas negative predictive values were highest with the LLP model. The Spitz and Bach models had lower sensitivity but better specificity than did the LLP model.


CONCLUSIONS
We observed modest differences in discriminatory power among the three LC risk models, but discriminatory powers were moderate at best, highlighting the difficulty in developing effective risk models.
D'Amelio
A M
AM
Department of Epidemiology, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1155 Pressler Street - Unit 1340, Houston, Texas 77030-4009, USA.
Cassidy
A
A
Asomaning
K
K
Raji
O Y
OY
Duffy
S W
SW
Field
J K
JK
Spitz
M R
MR
Christiani
D
D
Etzel
C J
CJ
D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008404:Massachusetts / Q000453:epidemiology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data