Diagnostic analysis based on ROC curves: theory and applications in medicine
International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance
ISSN: 0952-6862
Article publication date: 1 July 2003
Abstract
Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis is a powerful tool to measure and specify the problems with diagnostic performance in medicine. Describes this analysis and the importance of the index area under ROC curve, using some examples to demonstrate its application. The study was conducted on two sets of new‐borns with very low birth weight, coming from neonatal intensive care units from Portuguese hospitals. The first application uses correlated samples, and aims to define which of the five indices of clinical seriousness can be considered the best to evaluate the risk of death for babies with very low birth weight. In the second application, regarding independent samples, compares four Portuguese hospitals, the aim being to identify the neonatal intensive care unit which presents the best performance in terms of care to the new‐borns, i.e. evaluated through the comparison of the clinical severity indices.
Keywords
Citation
Braga, A.C. and Oliveira, P. (2003), "Diagnostic analysis based on ROC curves: theory and applications in medicine", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 16 No. 4, pp. 191-198. https://doi.org/10.1108/09526860310479677
Publisher
:MCB UP Ltd
Copyright © 2003, MCB UP Limited