A New Statistical Taguchi Approach for Determining the Diagnostic Accuracy of the Cage Questionnaire

Year 2002, Volume: 1 Issue: 2, 85 - 94, 16.08.2002

Mehmet Tolga Taner

Abstract

The CAGE Questionnaire is a sensitive and specific tool for screening alcoholism that can be practically used by physicians in wide range of patient profiles under different treatment settings. However, the diagnostic accuracy of CAGE, although assumed to be high, is yet unknown. If its being high is determined statistically in absolute terms, then it will be proven that the CAGE does offer the promise of raising the identification rate of alcoholic patients substantially. This article aims to determine the diagnostic accuracy of CAGE in different patient profiles by Taguchi's signal-to-noise (S/N) ratios. The proposed method can also be used for determining the diagnostic superiority among the analyses that give seemingly undifferentiable Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves or ROC areas (AUC).

Keywords

CAGE Questionnaire, Diagnostic Accuracy, Taguchi Methods, Signal-to-Noise (S/N) Ratios

Cage Anketinin Tanısal Doğruluğunun Belirlenmesi İçin Yeni Bir İstatistiksel Taguchi Yaklaşımı

Abstract

CAGE anketi, geniş bir hasta profilinde farklı tedavi yöntemlerini içine alacak şekilde hekimlerin sistematik bir şekilde alkolizmin teşhisine yönelik kolayca kullanabildikleri, tanısal doğruluğu yüksek olduğu tahmin edilen ancak henüz tam anlamıyla belirlenememiş, yüksek özgüllük ve duyarlılık değerleri olan bir analizdir. CAGE anketinin tanısal doğruluğunun istatistiksel bir yöntem vasıtasıyla kesin olarak belirlenmesi, bu anketin alkolik bireylerin tanımlanma oranlarını önemli derecede yükselttiğine dair bir ispat niteliğinde olacağından büyük bir öneme haizdir. Bu makalede, Taguchi Yöntemlerinin bir parçası olarak önerilen sinyal-gürültü oranları (S/N) vasıtasıyla, CAGE anketinin tanısal doğruluğunun değişik hasta profillerinde tespit edilip sunulması amaçlanmaktadır. Önerilen bu yeni yöntem, birbirine çok yakın değerler taşıyan Nisbi İşlemleme Özelliği Eğrileri (ROC) ve bu eğrilerin altında kalan alanları (AUC) veren analizlerde tanısal üstünlük tayini için de kullanılabilir.

Keywords

CAGE Anketi, Tanısal Doğruluk, Taguchi Yöntemleri, Sinyal-Gürültü (S/N) Oranları

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