Subject(s)
Obesity/epidemiology , Renal Insufficiency, Chronic/epidemiology , Adult , Aged , Cardiovascular Diseases/epidemiology , Comorbidity , Dyslipidemias/epidemiology , Female , Humans , Hypertension/epidemiology , Insulin Resistance , Male , Middle Aged , Odds Ratio , Prevalence , Risk , Sampling Studies , Spain/epidemiologyABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To quantitatively evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of diagnostic tests for immunomediated hearing loss. DATA SOURCES: We searched Medline and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews for potentially relevant studies. STUDY SELECTION: Twenty-five studies met the inclusion criteria of this systematic review. The diagnosis of immunomediated hearing loss was based on the clinical presentation and the response to corticosteroid administration. DATA EXTRACTION: The following data were extracted from the selected studies and entered into a standardised database: population demographics; exclusion and inclusion criteria; diagnostic tests; sensitivity; specificity; the number of true positive, true negative, false positive and false negative values; therapy used, including dose and duration; and delay between symptom onset and therapy commencement. DATA SYNTHESIS: This systematic review combined data from 679 patients with immunomediated hearing loss, reported by 22 research teams. Substantial heterogeneity was found among the included studies; for this reason, summary sensitivity and specificity values were not computed. CONCLUSIONS: The results of diagnostic tests for immunomediated hearing loss depend on many factors, and there is a risk of potential bias. This is the first time that such a systematic review has been presented; such a review is a more rigorous method of demonstrating the utility of the available diagnostic tests.
