STARD Checklists 

STARD stands for “Standards for Reporting Diagnostic Accuracy Studies”. This list of items was created to help ensure the completeness and openness of diagnostic accuracy study reporting. Authors can use the list to create insightful case reports. In addition, it may be used by editors and peer-reviewers to determine if the information has been included in articles submitted for publication. 

EXPLANATION  

A diagnostic accuracy study assesses one or more medical tests’ ability to correctly identify research participants as having a target disease. This might be an illness, a disease stage, a reaction or benefit from therapy, or a future occurrence or condition. A medical test can be an imaging technique, a laboratory test, components from a patient’s history and physical examination, a combination of these, or any other means of gathering information about a patient’s current health state. The index test is the test whose accuracy is being examined. Research can evaluate the precision of one or more index tests. A medical test’s ability to appropriately identify patients is often evaluated by comparing the distribution of the index test results. 

DEVELOPMENT  

The STARD list was published in 2015. A worldwide professional committee of methodologists, academics, and editors identified the 30 items. The driving premise in the development of STARD was to choose items that, when presented, would assist readers in evaluating the potential for bias in the study, analyzing the relevance of the study findings, and reviewing the validity of conclusions and recommendations. 

References 

Sounderajah, Viknesh, et al. “Developing a reporting guideline for artificial intelligence-centred diagnostic test accuracy studies: the STARD-AI protocol.” BMJ open 11.6 (2021): e047709.