Diseño de una escala para evaluar calidad metodológica de estudios de pruebas diagnósticas. Estudio piloto

Construction of a scale to assess methodological quality of diagnostic tests articles Introduction: Despite the methodological quality (MQ) of scientifi c publications is a multidimensional concept diffi cult to understand, their evaluation is essential at the time of making decisions that support our clinical practice. However, in the fi eld of diagnostic tests (DT), which is in a steady and rapid development, there are no valid and reliable instruments to assess MQ. Aim: To report the results of the generation of items and domains of a scale to determine MQ in studies of DT and to determine interobserver reliability of this sca- le. Material and Methods: Construction of a scale to assess MQ of DT articles and pilot study to determine interobserver reliability. Designed scale was applied to 20 DT studies randomly selected. Interobserver relia- bility of the scale and each of the domains that compose it was determined by applying intraclass correlation coeffi cient. Results: The created scale has 9 items grouped into three domains. The ICC observed was 1.0 for the domain 1, 0.90 for the domain 2 and 0.86 for the domain 3. The overall ICC was 0.96. Conclusion: A scale to determine MQ in DT studies was created and it interobserver reliability was determined with a signifi cant level of agreement between observers.