Study designs of evaluations included in the review
Prospective and retrospective studies were eligible for inclusion.
Specific interventions included in the review
No inclusion criteria relating to the index test were defined. The included studies reported data for at least one of the following tests: electrocardiogram (ECG), MB-fraction serum creatinine phosphokinase level (CPK-MB), radioisotope scanning (Scan) and echocardiography (Echo). Definitions of an abnormal test were:
for ECG, any new abnormality, or any abnormality in a patient with no previous ECG;
for CPK-MB, any elevation of the MB fraction considered greater than normal by the authors of the primary study (range: 0 to 7%);
for Scan or Echo, any examination reported as abnormal by the authors of the primary study.
Reference standard test against which the new test was compared
No inclusion criteria relating to the reference standard of diagnosis were defined. In the review, the presence or absence of complication was used as the reference standard. A complication was defined as any new cardiac problem that required treatment.
Participants included in the review
All studies of patients with blunt cardiac trauma were eligible for inclusion.
Outcomes assessed in the review
No inclusion criteria relating to the outcome measure were defined. The outcome measure reported in the review was the diagnostic odds ratio (OR), a measure of correlation of abnormal test result with cardiac complications.
How were decisions on the relevance of primary studies made?
The authors did not state how the papers were selected for the review, or how many reviewers performed the selection.