Reported estimates of diagnostic accuracy in ophthalmology conference abstracts were not associated with full-text publication.
To assess whether conference abstracts that report higher estimates of diagnostic accuracy are more likely to reach full-text publication in a peer-reviewed journal.



We identified abstracts describing diagnostic accuracy studies, presented between 2007 and 2010 at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Annual Meeting. We extracted reported estimates of sensitivity, specificity, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR). Between May and July 2015, we searched MEDLINE and EMBASE to identify corresponding full-text publications; if needed, we contacted abstract authors. Cox regression was performed to estimate associations with full-text publication, where sensitivity, specificity, and AUC were logit transformed, and DOR was log transformed.



A full-text publication was found for 226/399 (57%) included abstracts. There was no association between reported estimates of sensitivity and full-text publication (hazard ratio [HR] 1.09 [95% confidence interval {CI} 0.98, 1.22]). The same applied to specificity (HR 1.00 [95% CI 0.88, 1.14]), AUC (HR 0.91 [95% CI 0.75, 1.09]), and DOR (HR 1.01 [95% CI 0.94, 1.09]).



Almost half of the ARVO conference abstracts describing diagnostic accuracy studies did not reach full-text publication. Studies in abstracts that mentioned higher accuracy estimates were not more likely to be reported in a full-text publication.
Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Electronic address: d.a.korevaar@amc.uva.nl.
Daniël A
DA
Korevaar
Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands; INSERM U1153, Obstetrical, Perinatal and Pediatric Epidemiology Research Team (EPOPé), Center for Epidemiology and Statistics Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris Descartes University, 53, avenue de l'Observatoire, 75014 Paris, France.
Jérémie F
JF
Cohen
Cochrane Netherlands, Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Centre Utrecht, University Utrecht, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands; Medical Library, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
René
R
Spijker
Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
Ian J
IJ
Saldanha
Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
Kay
K
Dickersin
Department of Translational Surgery and Medicine, Eye Clinic, University of Florence, largo Brambilla, 3, 50134 Florence, Italy.
Gianni
G
Virgili
Cochrane Netherlands, Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Centre Utrecht, University Utrecht, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Lotty
L
Hooft
Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Patrick M M
PM
Bossuyt
D000043:Abstracting and Indexing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003226:Congresses as Topic; D006801:Humans; D009885:Ophthalmology; D017712:Peer Review, Research; D017594:Publication Bias / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
Diagnostic accuracy studies; Meta-analyses; Ophthalmology; Publication bias; Reporting bias; Sensitivity and specificity; Systematic reviews; Time-lag bias