Standard echocardiography versus handheld echocardiography for the detection of subclinical rheumatic heart disease : protocol for a systematic review
Date
2018-02
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BMJ Publishing Group
Abstract
Introduction Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is a
preventable and treatable chronic condition which
persists in many developing countries largely affecting
impoverished populations. Handheld echocardiography
presents an opportunity to address the need for more
cost-effective methods of diagnosing RHD in developing
countries, where the disease continues to carry high
rates of morbidity and mortality. Preliminary studies
have demonstrated moderate sensitivity as well as
high specificity and diagnostic odds for detecting RHD
in asymptomatic patients. We describe a protocol for
a systematic review on the diagnostic performance
of handheld echocardiography compared to standard
echocardiography using the 2012 World Heart Federation
criteria for diagnosing subclinical RHD.
Methods and analysis Electronic databases including
PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and EBSCOhost as well
as reference lists and citations of relevant articles will be
searched from 2012 to date using a predefined strategy
incorporating a combination of Medical Subject Heading
terms and keywords. The methodological validity and
quality of studies deemed eligible for inclusion will be
assessed against review specific Quality Assessment of
Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2 criteria and information
on metrics of diagnostic accuracy and demographics
extracted. Forest plots of sensitivity and specificity as well
as scatter plots in receiver operating characteristic (ROC)
space will be used to investigate heterogeneity. If possible,
a meta-analysis will be conducted to produce summary
results of sensitivity and specificity using the Hierarchical
Summary ROC method. In addition, a sensitivity analysis
will be conducted to investigate the effect of studies with a
high risk of bias.
Description
CITATION: Telford, L.H. et al. 2018. Standard echocardiography versus handheld echocardiography for the detection of subclinical rheumatic heart disease: protocol for a systematic review. BMJ Open, 8(2):e020140, doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2017-020140.
The original publication is available at https://bmjopen.bmj.com/
The original publication is available at https://bmjopen.bmj.com/
Keywords
Rheumatic heart disease -- RHD, Chronic heart disease, Echocardiography, Heart disease, Streptococcal infection
Citation
Telford, L.H. et al. 2018. Standard echocardiography versus handheld echocardiography for the detection of subclinical rheumatic heart disease: protocol for a
systematic review. BMJ Open, 8(2):e020140, doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2017-020140.