Defining the Validity of Skin Self-Examination as a Screening Test for the Detection of Suspicious Pigmented Lesions: A Meta-Analysis of Diagnostic Test Accuracy
Affiliation
Department of Dermatology, St. George’s Hospital, London, United KingdomIssue Date
2022
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Background: Skin self-examination (SSE) is widely promoted for the detection of suspicious pigmented lesions. However, determining screening accuracy is essential to appraising the usefulness of SSE. Objectives: The aim of this work was to pool estimates from studies of SSE diagnostic accuracy in the detection of suspicious pigmented lesions. Methods: This study was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42021246356) and conducted in accordance with PRISMA-DTA guidelines. A systematic search of Medline (PubMed) EMBASE, CINAHL, and The Cochrane Library was conducted to identify relevant studies. We included studies that examined the accuracy of SSE, either whole-body or site-specific, for detecting change in individual pigmented lesions or detecting an atypical naevus. A univariate random-effects model, based on logit-transformed data, was used to calculate a summary diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) as well as pooled sensitivity and specificity. Cochran’s Q test and the I2 statistic were calculated to assess heterogeneity. A proportional hazards model was used to calculate the area under the curve (AUC) and plot the summary receiver operator characteristic curve. We used the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 tool to grade study quality. Results: We identified 757 studies, of which 3 met inclusion criteria for quantitative synthesis. The pooled sensitivity and specificity based on 553 included participants was 59 and 82%, respectively. The summary DOR was 5.88 and the AUC was 0.71. There were some concerns regarding risk of bias in all 3 studies. Conclusions: SSE can detect suspicious pigmented lesions with reasonable sensitivity and relatively high specificity, with the AUC suggesting acceptable discriminatory ability.Citation
Jiyad Z, Plasmeijer EI, Keegan S, Samarasinghe V, Green AC, Akhras V. Defining the Validity of Skin Self-Examination as a Screening Test for the Detection of Suspicious Pigmented Lesions: A Meta-Analysis of Diagnostic Test Accuracy. Dermatology. 2022:1-9.Journal
DermatologyDOI
10.1159/000520592PubMed ID
34979506Additional Links
https://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000520592Type
ArticleLanguage
enae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1159/000520592