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Fig. 1 | Arthritis Research & Therapy

Fig. 1

From: What is the value of musculoskeletal ultrasound in patients presenting with arthralgia to predict inflammatory arthritis development? A systematic literature review

Fig. 1

Forest plots of LR+ and LR− for GSUS (a, b) and PDUS (c, d). LR+ = positive likelihood ratio; LR− = negative likelihood ratio. GSUS greyscale ultrasound, PDUS power Doppler ultrasound. Some studies used different cut-offs and are presented two or three times in this figure. Pratt: a GSUS sum score ≥ 2; b GSUS sum score/6 joints (worst hand) ≥ 2; c GSUS number of joints ≥ 1: ≥ 3; d PDUS sum score ≥ 1; e PDUS number of joints ≥1: ≥ 2. Zufferey: a B-mode score > 8 (of total possible score of 66); b ≥ 2 joints (of total number of 22 joints) with grade ≥ 2 synovitis [18]. Likelihood ratio values between 0 and 1 decrease the probability of disease; values greater than 1 increase the probability of disease. An LR of 1 does not influence the probability. In general, an LR+ of 2 results in an approximate change of + 15% in post-probability; an LR+ of 5 in an approximate change of + 30% and an LR+ of 10 in an approximate change of + 45%. An LR− of 0.5 results in an approximate change of − 15% in post-probability; an LR− of 0.2 in an approximate change of − 30% and an LR− of 10 in an approximate change of − 45%. These estimations are accurate for pre-test probabilities between 10% and 90% [23]

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