Study designs of evaluations included in the review
The authors only included randomised controlled trials (RCTs).
Specific interventions included in the review
Umbilical artery Doppler ultrasound.
Reference standard test against which the new test was compared
The review did not include any diagnostic accuracy studies that compared the performance of the index test with a reference standard of diagnosis.
Participants included in the review
Women experiencing high-risk pregnancies were included. The inclusion criteria of the primary studies differed significantly.
In the 'well-defined studies' (with tighter inclusion criteria), 1,307 patients (60.5%) had suspected intra-uterine growth restriction and 852 patients (39.5%) had suspected intra-uterine growth restriction and/or hypertensive disease.
In the 'general risk studies' (with wider and/or poorly defined inclusion criteria), 12 to 51% of the included pregnancies were classified as suspected intra-uterine growth restriction, 12 to 46% as HD, 5 to 38% as reduced foetal movements, 4 to 35% were post-term, 4 to 12% had antepartum haemorrhage, and 6 to 44% had other high-risk complications.
Outcomes assessed in the review
No inclusion criteria were specified. A variety of outcomes were considered: perinatal mortality, antenatal admission; induction of labour, elective delivery, Caesarean sections (elective and emergency), Apgar score at 5 minutes, and admission to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
How were decisions on the relevance of primary studies made?
The authors do not state how the papers were selected for the review, or how many of the reviewers performed the selection.